Obama's approval rating keeps getting lower and lower. Gallup attributes the decline in approval to moderate democrats and 18-29 year olds. While the approval rating in those groups are still high they are not what they were like before. According to Gallup, Obama is now at the risk of going below 50%. This has implications for health care reform. Obama needs to get his numbers back up where they were in June so that Democrats won't bail on him.
What is weird about the tracking poll is that on Saturday he was at 54% and 37% disapproval. Now he's at 5O% WTF. This is a rapid decline:
PRINCETON, NJ -- Barack Obama's latest job approval rating is 51%, according to Aug. 23-25 Gallup Daily tracking. Should his rating continue its downward trend and fall below 50%, he would -- like most post-World War II presidents -- have less-than-majority approval at some point in his presidency. However, Obama, in his eighth month in office, could hit this mark in a shorter time than has typically been the case. If his rating falls below 50% before November, it would represent the third-fastest drop to below majority approval since World War II, behind the declines for Gerald Ford (in his third month as president) and Bill Clinton (in his fourth month).
Thankfully Gallup said that this is not the point of return. Hopefully the economy improves and therefore his numbers improve:
However, falling below 50% would hardly mark a point of no return for Obama. All presidents went back above the 50% mark after their initial loss of majority public support. And Clinton and Reagan, who dropped below majority approval faster than most other presidents, easily won second terms in the subsequent election.