Poll: Obama underwater with millennials

President Obama’s approval rating has slipped underwater among Americans ages 18 to 29, according to a new survey, further evidence that confidence in the president is eroding even among the young voters who propelled him twice to the White House.

According to the survey from USA Today and Pew Research, 45 percent of young voters approve of the way Obama is handling his job while 46 percent disapprove. That’s down substantially from a year ago, when two-thirds of millennials said they approved of the president.

It’s the third poll indicating trouble among young voters for President Obama this month. A Harvard University poll showed Obama’s approval rating at just 41 percent among the demographic, down 11 points from April. A Quinnipiac poll found the same 41 percent approval rating, with 49 percent saying they disapproved.

{mosads}The president’s souring approval rating has been widely attributed to the botched rollout of his signature healthcare law, and there is evidence that the program is unpopular with young voters, despite a provision designed to allow them to remain on their parents’ insurance until age 26.

In the USA Today poll, just 41 percent of millennials approve of ObamaCare — just a point better than the country as a whole.

The president might also be struggling with younger voters after continued revelations about the National Security Agency’s top secret spying programs, which are particularly unpopular among that demographic. 

The White House said last week it had received an outside review commissioned by the president examining the NSA’s surveillance program against privacy considerations. The report includes more than 40 recommendations in light of the Edward Snowden disclosures, which the administration is now evaluating. Obama is expected to speak publicly about the report when the administration makes a declassified version available in January.

Last week, spokesman Josh Earnest said that the White House doesn’t ” spend a lot of time looking at these individual poll numbers.”

“The president has made clear that the president has pursued the difficult topic of healthcare reform not because it would burnish his poll numbers, but because he thought it was the right thing for the country,” Earnest said.