YIKES! – AT 8:49 A.M. ET:  President Obama is suffering in the polls, just as we enter a midterm election campaign.  From The Wall Street Journal: 

President Barack Obama is struggling to overcome widespread pessimism about the economy and deep frustration with Washington, notching the lowest job-approval ratings of his presidency in a new Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll.

The results suggest Mr. Obama could weigh on fellow Democrats in midterm elections this fall, particularly in the conservative states that will play a large role in deciding whether his party retains its Senate majority.

Mr. Obama's job approval ticked down to 41% in March from 43% in January, marking a new low. Some 54% disapproved of the job he is doing, matching a previous high from December, when the botched rollout of his signature health law played prominently in the news. The latest survey also showed the lowest-ever approval in Journal/NBC polling for Mr. Obama's handling of foreign policy.

The findings come amid dissatisfaction with all elected leaders in Washington and low regard for the Republican Party. Roughly a quarter of those polled view the GOP positively, with 45% harboring negative views, weaker numbers than for the Democratic Party.

Still, the GOP leads slightly when the public is asked which party should control Congress.

While fortunes could change in the months before November, Mr. Obama's power to help his party's candidates appear limited, said Republican pollster Bill McInturff, who directs the Journal/NBC poll with Democrat Fred Yang.

COMMENT:  We note the president's low standing in foreign policy.  Some commentators, and I believe they're correct, attribute this to one word:  Russia.  Other foreign policy issues deal with small states or unpopular ones, like Syria.  But Russia/Ukraine is a very big deal.  Russia is re-emerging as a world power, and we have a bitter history with Moscow.  The Ukraine confrontation is often described as the most serious foreign-policy crisis since the end of the Cold War, excluding the military crisis prompted by the 9-11 attacks.

With a wobbling economy, I don't see much upside for the president before the elections, but the Dems generally may be helped, as they've been helped before, by Republican blunders.  The Republican National Committee is working hard to do things better this time.  At least they recognize the problem.

March 12,  2014