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Harrisburg Patriot-News

If President Barack Obama is using the nation’s fiscal woes for his own political benefit, the short term impact suggests otherwise.

A new Gallup Poll released Tuesday finds Obama has taken a two-point popularity hit since he and Congress failed to avoid the drastic spending cuts known as the “sequester” last week.

The president had been riding an approval rating above 50 percent all year, peaking at 54 percent in early January.

But after the sequester debacle — the latest in a series of Washington budgetary missteps — Obama’s approval has dipped to 49 percent, according to the poll.

The drop may call into question Republican claims that Obama is using the nation’s fiscal woes to engineer a Democratic Party retake of the House.

Read more: http://www.pennlive.com/midstate/index.ssf/2013/03/obama_takes_popularity_hit_for.html