Study: War on terror weakened Obama's support

18 Sep, 2009 17:36 / Updated 14 years ago

A study in the U.S. has shown Barack Obama's media image is on the decline. According to research by two American universities, the President's standing has seen a 16 percent decline.

“In his first 100 days, about 59 percent of his coverage was positive. The majority of the stories about the President were actually good. Now in his second 100 days, it is below 43 percent” – says Nikki Schwab, a reporter from the U.S. News and World Report magazine.

Talking about the role of media in the decline of Obama's approval ratings, Nikki Schwab described it as a “chicken and egg” situation. “Approval ratings will be sliding and the media will obviously report on that, and than people will read these stories and, perhaps, they will think that the president isn't doing a good job” – said Schwab.

In the US, the media tends to focus on domestic issues, notes Schwab. However, it's not his domestic policies that caused the decline in approval ratings, but foreign policy decisions.