President Obama's job approval rating has sunk to an all-time low in the latest Quinnipiac poll.

Obama's disapproval rating is 52%, compared to 47% in July.  Congressional leaders rate even lower in the public eye.

The Tea Party has a better rating--with 42% of voters having a negative view.

Here is the entire poll info:

President Barack Obama's overall job approval rating has sunk to an all-time low, as American voters disapprove 52 - 42 percent, compared to 47 - 46 percent approval in July, and among whites and men his approval has dropped into the 30s, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released today. Congressional leaders rate even lower in the public eye.

Voters nationwide are more pessimistic about the economy, saying 49 - 11 percent that it is getting worse rather than improving, a precipitous drop from a July 14 survey by the independent Quinnipiac (KWIN-uh-pe-ack) University, in which voters said 32 - 23 percent the economy was worsening and January 18, when voters said 36 - 20 percent it was improving.

The economy is in a recession, 76 percent of voters say, and is not beginning to recover, voters say 68 - 28 percent.

Voters trust Obama more than congressional Republicans to handle the economy 44 - 41 percent, but they say 46 - 42 percent that Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney would do a better job than Obama. They are split 43 - 41 percent on whether Obama or GOP candidate Rick Perry would be better on the economy.

"President Barack Obama has hit a low 42 percent approval in the past, but this is his highest disapproval rating. Ominous for him is that the share of voters who think he has strong leadership qualities has dropped from 64 - 33 percent in January to 50 - 48 percent now. Voters say 54 - 42 percent that he cares about their problems, but that is not impressive since it is a measure on which Democratic presidents historically rate well," said Peter Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute.

"When Quinnipiac University asked that question about Obama in November of 2008, he received a 70 - 22 percent positive score on understanding the needs of average folks."

"The best news for the president is that voters still blame former president George W. Bush rather than Obama for the economy by 53 - 32 percent. One can only imagine what Obama's approval rating might look like if that ever changes," said Brown.

The president's job approval has dropped to 77 - 18 percent among Democrats, compared to 81 - 11 percent in July. Republicans disapprove 90 - 7 percent, down from 83 - 13 percent, and independent voters disapprove 54 - 40 percent, unchanged from July.

Men disapprove 56 - 39 percent and women disapprove 49 - 44 percent. Whites disapprove 61 - 33 percent, while blacks approve 86 - 11 percent and Hispanics approve 56 - 40 percent. Obama's approval drops with the age of voters, from 49 - 43 percent positive among voters 18 to 34 years old, to a negative 41 - 54 percent among voters 35 to 54 years old and a negative 40 - 55 percent among voters over 55.

"Men, whites and independent voters were the president's weak spots when his job approval was positive and those groups have progressed from being weak spots to being serious problems," said Brown. "Of course, the way to improve his standing among those voters is the same recipe for success among the entire electorate - an improving economy."

The silver lining for the president is that he is viewed more favorably than the congressional leaders with whom he negotiated the debt ceiling deal. Obama gets a split 47 - 47 percent favorability, better than House Speaker John Boehner, with a negative rating of 31 - 22 percent, Senate GOP leader Mitch McConnell, with a 23 - 14 percent unfavorable rating, House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi, carrying a 52 - 24 percent unfavorable rating, and Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid, with a 36 - 18 percent unfavorable rating.


Only 12 percent of voters consider themselves members of the Tea Party movement, and voters have a 42 - 29 percent unfavorable view of it, which is better than the 51 - 35 percent unfavorable view of the Democrats and 53 - 32 percent unfavorable view of the Republicans.


"The Tea Party got a lot of negative publicity during the debt ceiling negotiations and most American voters either don't like the group or don't know enough about it to make a decision," said Brown. "Voters do know the Democratic and Republican parties - and they don't like either one."


From August 16 - 27, Quinnipiac University surveyed 2,730 registered voters with a margin of error of +/- 1.9 percentage points. Live interviewers call land lines and cell phones.


The Quinnipiac University Poll, directed by Douglas Schwartz, Ph.D., conducts public opinion surveys in Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Florida, Ohio, Virginia and the nation as a public service and for research. For more data or RSS feed- http://www.quinnipiac.edu/polling.xml, call (203) 582-5201, or follow us on Twitter.