Gallup has some interesting information on Obama's current job approval rating (46%-47%)
here
Currently, Obama's approval rating is trending below most other presidents during this same time in their presidencies.
Other presidents who trended higher during this same time in their first term were Dwight Eisenhower, John Kennedy, Richard Nixon, and both Bushes.
Presidents who trended lower than Obama were Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, and Bill Clinton.
I was able to easily track Obama's approval by demgraphics. For example, 53% of those in the East currently approve of Obama compared to 45% in the West. I was also able to determine that 81% of Democrats approve of Obama. Within this group, 87% of self-described liberal Democrats approve while 65% of self-described conservative Democrats approve.
Unfortunately, I was unable to find the same type of breakdowns for the other presidents. I was really hoping to compare job approval ratings by demographics such as age and ethnicity.
Interestinly, only 38% of whites currently approve of Obama's performance while 66% of non-whites approve. Of the those non-whites who approve, 89% are African-American and 52% are Latino.
I have concluded from this (albeit limited) data that Obama's race is impacting his approval rating. If I had similar demographic data on the job approval ratings of other presidents I would be able to make a more informed conclusion.
The data make me wonder--
Do African Americans approve of Obama because he is black?
Are most Whites disapproving of Obama because he is black?
Are African Americans more likely to give Obama the "benifit of the doubt"? Is the converse true for whites?
As an African American who approves of Obama's overall handling of his job but not all of his policies (for example, I do not approve of the Administration's public education policies--I am an educator and have extensive knowledge in this area and have always been skeptical of his policies--even before the election), I wonder if I would be less inclined to support this president at this time if he were not African American.
If say, the President were Latino, would his approval rating among Latinos rival that of Obama's current approval rating among African Americans?
Given this data, and my experience I suspect that if our current president were white, his approval among whites would be higher and his approval among African Americans would be lower than Obama's current ratings are.
I conclude that no "serious" conversation about Obama's performance(whether it be his handling of Iraq to the economy) can be conducted with those who approve or disapprove of his performance without an examination of the very real racial stratification that persists in our country.
I'd love to hear the community's thoughts.