Is Obama Starting To Take On Water?

Real Clear Politics Blog - by Sean Trende

Since his inauguration -- actually, since well before his inauguration -- the punditry has been in awe of President Obama's continually high approval ratings. As I've opined before, the fact that we have not seen a President in almost two decades whose ascension to power was not considered illegitimate by a substantial portion of the electorate probably plays a role here; Obama's approval ratings are not that stratospheric when one considers other Presidents who did not share the taint Bush II and Clinton suffered upon becoming President.
That said, there are some signs that Obama's approval ratings are beginning to come down to Earth. This is unsurprising -- every post-World War II President who has served a full term, save Eisenhower, has seen his approval rating drop below 50% at some point in his first term. Regardless, Rasmussen has Obama's net "strongly approve/strongly disapprove" ratings at zero for the first time in his term. His net approval rating is tied for the lowest of his term. At the same time, the percentage of people who classify Obama's leadership skills as "Excellent" or "Good" is only 51%. 49% give him "Fair" or "Poor" marks.
Gallup has also shown a narrowing of his approve/disapprove, which is the lowest today it has been in months ...Read more...