OBAMA DIVING AGAIN IN RASMUSSEN POLL – AT 9:41 A.M. ET:  Rasmussen's daily tracking poll shows a sharp drop for President Obama:

The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Thursday shows that 25% of the nation's voters Strongly Approve of the way that Barack Obama is performing his role as president. Forty-five percent (45%) Strongly Disapprove, giving Obama a Presidential Approval Index rating of -20 (see trends).

The president continues to get strong reviews from Democrats. However, hardly any Republicans offer their approval and 52% of unaffiliated voters Strongly Disapprove.

That's strongly disapprove. Look at the "unaffiliated number."  If you add to it all those who only mildly disapprove, the figure must be staggering.  If Obama can't turn that around by 2012, it's back to community organizing.

Twenty-eight percent (28%) now believe the country is generally heading in the right direction...

...Overall, 44% of voters say they at least somewhat approve of the president's performance. Fifty-four percent (54%) disapprove.

COMMENT:  Usually, when the president is abroad, his numbers tend to go up.  With Obama, they're down.

Conventional wisdom has it that Obama, like Clinton, Reagan and Roosevelt before him, will emerge from a midterm defeat and win the next presidential election.  But I really wonder.  First, Reagan's midterm losses in 1982 were far, far lower than Obama's.  And Roosevelt and Clinton knew how to pivot.  Obama?  Not exactly a master of governing.

Great politics ahead.  The 2012 campaign is already underway.

November 11, 2011