OBAMA'S POLL DANCE FADES AWAY – AT 8:02 A.M. ET:  The president is taking heat in the polls.  From Tom Bevan at Real Clear Politics:

Yesterday I noted that President Obama's job approval rating in the Gallup tracking poll went upside down for the first time. Today, with Gallup's rating staying upside down and with the addition three new polls in the last 24 hours (NBC/WSJ, Pew, and Fox News), Obama's job approval in the Real Clear Politics Average has gone net negative for the first time ever as well. Currently 47.3% of those surveyed approve of the job Obama is doing as President, while 47.8% disapprove.

One of the things dragging the president down is his pushing of the very health-care bill that will be voted on this weekend.  From Fox:

As Americans wait for Congress to act on health care, a Fox News poll released Thursday finds 55 percent oppose the reforms being considered, while 35 percent favor them.

In addition, just over half of voters think House Democrats are “changing the rules” to get their bill passed.

About a third of voters (31 percent) think House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the Democrats are “playing by the rules” to get health care through, while 53 percent think they are “changing the rules.” Looking at the results by political party, 53 percent of Democrats think their party is playing by the rules, about one in four think they are changing the rules (27 percent) and the rest are unsure (19 percent). Varying majorities of Republicans (78 percent) and independents (57 percent) think House Democrats are changing the rules to pass the bill.

COMMENT:  One thing that's hard to factor into these polls is the "likability" factor.  I believe that the president was, during part of his first year in office, helped considerably by the fact that he appeared "likable."  I'm not so sure he gets the warm and cuddly vote any longer.  These days Mr. Obama seems to be a member of the law firm of Cold, Petulant and Snippy, specialists in losing friends.  Even the Obama Girl from the 2008 campaign has turned against him.

March 19, 2010