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It’s not even two complete months into his second term and President Obama’s approval rating has slipped a few notches, new polls reveal. Obama has seen a slight dip, which is being blamed on the country’s fiscal problems.

Disagreements over the sequester have turned people off from both Republicans and Democrats, resulting in a drop in popularity for the president.

From Reuters:

A Reuters/Ipsos online poll released on Wednesday showed 43 percent of people approve of Obama’s handling of his job, down 7 percentage points from Feb. 19.

Most of that steep drop came in the week to Feb. 26 when it was becoming clear that Washington was going to be unable to put aside partisan differences and agree to halt automatic budget cuts which started last Friday.

Confounding the White House’s efforts to blame Republicans for the cuts, most respondents in the online survey hold both Democrats and Republicans responsible.

Obama shot out of the gate in January at the start of his second four years in the White House, promising gun control and immigration legislation as well as efforts to tackle climate change and expand gay rights.

But Ipsos pollster Julia Clark said the survey shows Obama’s honeymoon is now over, partly due to the “sequestration” cuts which will likely curtail public services like air traffic control and national parks as well as funding for the Pentagon.

“People are seeing things are back to business as usual in Washington,” she said. “They are reading about the immense fallout this is going to have in terms of how it’s going to affect the military and individuals.”

The commander in chief’s approval rating has been solid since last fall, just as he amped up campaign efforts to win re-election in November. After winning the campaign, a USA/Gallup poll concluded that 58 percent of Americans were satisfied with his performance.

Photo: Pete Souza