According to a recent poll, the majority of American voters say they are unhappy with how the president is handling what they believe are the highest priority issues facing the country. However, if Obama can rearrange his own priorities and fix the current situation in a few key areas, pollsters say his approval ratings may increase in 2014.

Quinnipiac University revealed on Wednesday the results of a national poll that sought to find out what voters in the United States say are their top priorities for President Obama and Congress this year.

Although Obama's negative job approval rates have plunged over past months, it seems the plunge has leveled off. However, those participating in the poll still give the president the lowest grades for highest priority issues.

Respondents for the Quinnipiac poll agree 53-42 percent that the Obama administration is not competent running the government and 47 percent agree the president is not paying attention to what his administration is doing, while 45 percent say the opposite. 

Of all voters polled, 18 percent list healthcare as the highest priority for the coming year. Coming in a close second place is unemployment at 16 percent, followed by the economy at 15 percent. A total of 10 percent list the budget, the budget deficit, spending, or other budget-related items. Bi-partisanship and cooperation within the government got four percent of the vote and finally education came in with two percent.

A total of 77 percent of voters say the economy is "not so good" or "poor." Only 28 percent say the economy is getting better, 26 percent agree it is getting worse and 44 percent say it is the same.

Focusing specifically on Obama's handling of the issues, voters gave the lowest grades for the following high priority issues:

Respondents rated negatively 39-56 percent for his handling of the economy and negative 36-59 percent for his handling of healthcare. Other issues include positive 48-41 percent for handling terrorism, negative 40-49 percent for foreign policy and negative 39-47 percent for handling Iran.

"'It's the economy, Mr. President,' say dissatisfied American voters who are not yet willing to give President Barack Obama a thumbs up on his presidency," said Tim Malloy, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute.

"If -- and it's a big IF -- the president can convince the American people that the economy is getting better and that Obamacare will be good for them, it will go a long way to rebuilding his sagging job approval ratings."

Quinnipiac conducted this poll between Jan. 15 and Jan. 19. It was conducted via telephone and included a total of 1,933 voters nationwide. The margin of error is plus or minus 2.2 percentage points.

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