EVEN IN THE BLUE STATES – AT 8:28 A.M. ET:  The conventional thinking is that President Obama is in trouble only in red states, that his base in the blue states is secure.  That does not, however, appear to be true.  Dissatisfaction with Obama is seeping heavily into the bluest of the blue states, New York and California, the Democratic coastal anchors.  From The Hill: 

Just weeks after President Obama's approval rating hit record lows in the liberal bastion of California, a new survey shows the president in trouble in another deep blue state: New York.

Only 39 percent of registered New York voters surveyed in a Marist College poll said Obama is doing an "excellent" or "good" job, the lowest level for Obama in the poll since the beginning of his presidency.

That's down 6 points from July, when 45 percent said they approved of his job performance. Sixty-one percent of survey respondents judged Obama as doing a "fair" or "poor" job in office.

Earlier this month, only 45 percent of California voters said they approved of how Obama was handling his job, according to a Field Poll released by the Sacramento Bee. That was down 5 percent from June.

The president has seen his support erode steadily throughout the summer as he grappled with a series of international crises, including the rise of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, Russia's repeated incursions into Ukraine, and fighting between Israel and Palestine.

The Marist poll could change the calculus for national Democrats, who had hoped Obama could be an asset in New York during the home stretch of the midterm election campaign.

COMMENT:  In fairness we should wait to see the "internals" on these numbers.  It may be that some of the truly looney tunes voters in California and New York are turning on Obama because he isn't leftist enough.  They expected someone rivaling Lenin.  Or at least Fidel.

We also should caution that, while presidential popularity can influence elections to Congress, it is only one factor.  These elections are local, and usually depend on locally important issues and the direct appeal, or lack of it, of the candidates.  We still have a long way to election day.

September 25, 2014