The magic is gone!

 

President Barack Obama has ruffled so many feathers during his five and a half years in office that he is now as disliked by as many Americans as former president George W. Bush, a new poll shows.

In the latest CNN/ORC International poll, 51 percent of Americans said they viewed President Obama unfavorably. The same percentage of respondents had a negative opinion of former President Bush.

This is the first time in Obama's presidency that a majority of Americans have given the president bad marks.

When Barack Obama took office on January 20, 2009, an astounding 78 percent of Americans said they had positive views of their new president.

 

Meanwhile, a mere 35 percent had nice things to say about outgoing president George W. Bush.

Coming off the precipice of a financial disaster, there was no love lost between Americans and the Republican president, whose final years in office brought massive numbers of foreclosures and rampant unemployment.

Obama capitalized on his predecessor's misfortune, and an early strategy of administration was to 'blame Bush' for everything that was wrong in America.

 

Five and a half years later, it's Obama who is mired in controversy and fending off critics on both sides of the aisle for sins against Americas veterans and a shady deal with the Taliban that allowed five of its finest fighters to walk free in exchange for the life of a suspected deserter from the Army.

The president's signature law, Obamacare, also continues to be a drag on his ratings, as health care costs continue to increase despite promises from the president that wouldn't happen.

A Bloomberg National Poll released on Wednesday found that 53 percent of Americans are opposed the law.

CNN did not specifically ask survey-takers who viewed the president unfavorably why they were upset with him, however respondents have specifically cited Obamacare as area of dissatisfaction in other recent polls, like the the one taken by Washington Post and ABC News in late April. 

CNN also asked poll takers about their opinions of other former presidents and members of their families. No other names on the list drew as much negative attention as Obama and George W. Bush.

Former presidents Bill Clinton and George H. W. Bush had unfavorable ratings of 31 percent and 33 percent favorable respectively. 

Of the first ladies, former secretary of state and potential 2016 presidential candidate Hillary Clinton was liked the least, with 42 percent giving her a black mark. 

Michelle Obama came in under Clinton at 34 percent and Barbara Bush and Laura Bush scored poorly with 18 percent and 16 percent of respondents.

Former first daughter and soon to be mother Chelsea Clinton also had low unfavorabilty rating of 16 percent. 

The poll did not ask about George W. Bush's daughters Jenna Bush Hager and Barbara Pierce Bush, nor did it ask about George H. W. Bush's five other children.