Washington ( CNN ) -- President Barack Obama 's poll numbers are nothing to brag about , but there 's little evidence he has suffered so far this year a `` Katrina moment '' that caused his predecessor 's numbers to plummet . A new CNN/ORC International survey indicates that public opinion of the President has barely budged in the wake of new challenges that Obama has faced this year . According to the poll , which was released Wednesday , the President 's approval rating among Americans stands at 42 % . That 's not great , but it 's basically unchanged since March . Only 42 % believe that Obama can manage the government effectively . Again , nothing to celebrate , but it 's virtually unchanged from the 43 % who felt that way in March . `` When Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans and the Gulf Coast in 2005 , the biggest impact on attitudes toward George W. Bush came in the number who said that he could manage the government effectively . That number dropped 10 points , and no other personal quality measured at that time changed as much , '' said CNN Polling Director Keating Holland . `` Using that as a definition of a 'Katrina moment , ' it looks like Obama has not experienced a similar drop in the summer of 2014 , in part because his numbers already took that hit last year and have stabilized since then . '' The survey indicates there have been one-to-two point changes ( which are within the poll 's sampling error ) in the number of Americans who say that Obama is a strong leader , that he shares their values and that he cares about people . `` Once again , those numbers are not good news for the White House , but the clear indication is that the President 's problems pre-date the current immigration crisis along the Mexican border or anything else that has happened this summer , and that those problems have not made things significantly worse for the President , '' Holland added . Obama drop started last year . Obama 's numbers edged down during the late spring and summer of 2013 following controversies over the Edward Snowden intelligence leaks and congressional investigations into the IRS ' alleged targeting of conservative political groups . Then came October and the politically charged botched rollout of the website for Obamacare , his signature domestic policy achievement . Coupled with legislative setbacks , many pundits labeled 2013 the worst year of Obama 's presidency . And for the first time since taking over at the White House in 2009 , a majority of the public surveyed disapproved of his job performance . Obama 's approval ratings slightly rebounded earlier this year before edging down to their current standing in the low 40s in most national public opinion polling . The release of the new CNN poll comes after the crisis along the southern border dominated headlines for weeks . Prior to that controversy , the scandal rocking the Department of Veterans Affairs was in the media spotlight . The President is also facing two pressing international challenges : the bloody fighting in Gaza between Israel and Hamas , and the shooting down of a Malaysian airliner over a part of eastern Ukraine controlled by pro-Russian separatists . Prior to these two international flashpoints , Obama was dealing with the increased bloodshed in Iraq , the ongoing civil war in Syria , as well as the controversial swapping of five Taliban prisoners held at Guantanamo Bay for the release of a U.S. soldier held captive in Afghanistan . The poll was conducted for CNN by ORC International from July 18-20 , with 1,012 adult Americans questioned by telephone . The survey 's overall sampling error is plus or minus three percentage points .
President Obama 's approval rating is 42 % in new CNN/ORC International poll . His approval rating stood at 43 % in a poll in March . `` President 's problems pre-date the current immigration crisis '' CNN polling director says . Big drop in Obama 's approval rating happened during 2013 .