Bush Ratings Unfavorable for Reelection, says Gallup Poll Editor

From an article with the unfortunately precious title "At This Point, the Polls Toll for Bush" by Frank Newport, editor of the Gallup Poll, in the Los Angeles Times:

President Bush has a 50% job approval rating at the moment. Gallup Poll archives since 1952, when modern polling techniques came into play, show that his rating is slightly below those of the most recent successful candidates for reelection. In March of their election years, Bill Clinton had a job approval rating of 52%, Ronald Reagan had a rating of 54% and Richard Nixon had a rating of 53%. The two other successful incumbents since 1952, Dwight Eisenhower and Lyndon Johnson, had even higher job approval ratings at this point in 1956 and 1964.

The last paragraph in the article

Still, if Bush is reelected, he will become the only president out of the last eight incumbents to win after having been behind a challenger in Gallup polling conducted after January of his election year. And, if his job approval ratings don't rise above 50% in April and May, his reelection would mark the first of those eight to win with less than majority approval in the late spring of their election year.

I find alternately reassuring or omnimous, depending on how well I can force the memories of Florida in '00 from my thoughts.