Gallup's tracking poll of the president's approval rating has bad news:
This comes on the same day that the Perry campaign releases its first campaign ad:
To summarize, Rick Perry's path to prosperity is austerity--spending cuts--coupled with deregulation and tort reform. In other words, a return to the roaring 1930s.
What is President Obama's plan?
As bobswern wrote this morning, the administration hasn't quite figured that out yet.
Mr. Obama’s senior adviser, David Plouffe, and his chief of staff, William M. Daley, want him to maintain a pragmatic strategy of appealing to independent voters by advocating ideas that can pass Congress, even if they may not have much economic impact. These include free trade agreements and improved patent protections for inventors.
But others, including Gene Sperling, Mr. Obama’s chief economic adviser, say public anger over the debt ceiling debate has weakened Republicans and created an opening for bigger ideas like tax incentives for businesses that hire more workers, according to Congressional Democrats who share that view. Democrats are also pushing the White House to help homeowners facing foreclosure.
Source
The Republicans have a plan. It's a batshit crazy plan based on counter-factual thinking and a devout faith in the church of tax cuts. But its a plan.
Where is President Obama's?
Update
To correct some of the "confusion" in the comments:
First, this is a three-day tracking poll. This was not the result of a single-day six point jump. If actually follow link and look at the numbers more closely, you'll see that Gallup has had Obama below 45% since mid-July.
Second, while Gallup's numbers might be outliers, this isn't the result of some sudden shift. As I pointed out to somebody in the comments, Gallup had him at 40% just a few days ago.
And today, I found this story Gallup had posted a few days ago.
PRINCETON, NJ -- President Obama's job approval rating for the first 10 days of August is 4 percentage points lower than it was in the first week of July, significantly less of a drop than the 19-point decline in Gallup's Economic Confidence Index over the same period.
Presidents often get the credit or take the blame for economic conditions, and as a result a president's job approval rating can take a major hit when the economy sours. The wrangling in Washington over the debt ceiling in July and early August, coupled with Standard and Poor's downgrade of the U.S. credit rating and the major gyrations in the stock market, resulted in a significant plunge in Gallup's Economic Confidence Index in recent weeks. The Economic Confidence Index was at -34 for the first week in July, and has averaged -53 in the first 10 days of August.
Finally, I challenge those of you accusing me of "celebrating" these numbers to point to the celebratory language in this diary. Attacking the messenger might be cathartic, but it won't do anything to change the numbers.