RUTHFULLY YOURS

The latest Gallup Daily tracking three-day average represents a new low for Barack Obama, with just 41 percent of Americans approving his job performance as president. This matches his previous lows in August 2010 and October 2010, just before the mid-term elections, and it is significantly down from his 2011 average of 48 percent. The president’s disapproval rating now stands at 50 percent, the highest point since August last year. In contrast, George W. Bush’s approval rating at this stage of his presidency stood at 70 percent (April 2003), and the average for US presidents in the ninth quarter stands at 57 percent.

Disconcertingly for the White House, his ratings have plummeted among independents, from an average of 44 percent in 2011 to just 35 percent this week, devastating figures if translated at the ballot box in 2012, where securing the independent vote will be vital. Even among Democrats, support for the president is now running at just 77 percent, down four points from the 2011 average, and down seven points from the average for 2009-11.

As Gallup points out, Obama is now as unpopular as he has been at any stage of his presidency:

President Obama is now as unpopular as he has been at any time since he became president. He faces difficult challenges ahead in trying to improve the economy and get the federal budget deficit under control, and must do so with Republicans in control of the House. His ability to navigate these challenges will help determine whether he will be elected to a second term as president. Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, and Bill Clinton all were similarly unpopular at this stage of their presidencies, but the last two were able to turn things around in time to win a second term in office.

The latest Gallup figures are even worse than the most recent Quinnipiac University national poll released at the end of March, which tracked Obama at just 42 percent approval. As I noted in a previous piece, President Obama receives strong negativity ratings for his handling of virtually all key issues, including the economy, budget deficit, health care, foreign policy and energy policy:

According to Quinnipiac, on the economy 60 percent of Americans disapprove of his performance, including more than a quarter of Democrats. That figure rises to 64 percent on the budget deficit. On health care, less than 40 percent of Americans back the president, with 55 percent opposing. On foreign policy, 47 percent disapprove of his handling, compared to just 41 percent in favour, with only two in five Americans approving of his leadership of the Libya issue.

And if his heavily panned performance this week on the budget deficit is anything to go by, it is unlikely that the president’s ratings will be significantly improving anytime soon. Barack Obama faces an increasingly disillusioned electorate which, as the latest RealClear Politics average of polls shows, overwhelmingly believes the country is heading down the wrong track. With deep-seated fears over the economy, including towering levels of federal debt, dominating voter concerns, the Obama presidency seems destined for another fall, perhaps on an even bigger scale than the setback the Left suffered last November.

In sharp contrast to his Democratic predecessor Bill Clinton, who did survive low ratings in his third year to ultimately win a second term, Obama is drifting further to the left rather than the political centre, a move which will only further alienate independents who moved decisively against him in the mid-terms. And as for comparisons with Ronald Reagan, who also recovered from low approval ratings to bounce back in 1984, the Gipper was simply in a different league to Barack Obama, displaying the kind of decisive, principled leadership that is sorely lacking in the White House today.