Obama's Disapproval Rating Reaches New High

President Barack Obama's approval ratings have declined steadily since he took office three months ago. A new poll out today shows that as the president approaches his 100th day in office, the percentage of Americans that disapprove of his job performance has reached a new high. Rasmussen Reports' Daily Presidential Tracking Poll shows Obama with a 54-46 percent approval rating. The approval and disapproval numbers represent record low approval and record high disapproval for the president, respectively. Moreover, the spread between respondents that strongly approve or disapprove of Obama's job performance stands at just 34-32.

Rasmussen's results confirm the result of a Pew Research Center for the People and the Press poll from earlier this month. That poll showed that Obama had the most polarized poll results of any president in forty years with 88 percent of Democrats viewing his performance favorable and just 27 percent of Republicans agreeing. Overall, Pew found the president's job approval at 59 percent, slightly higher than the 54 percent reported by Rasmussen.

In other polling news, Rasmussen also reported that the generic Congressional ballot is tied at 39-39 percent between Republicans and Democrats. This is the second straight week that respondents have indicated no preference between the two parties in the 2010 Congressional elections. Rasmussen's Congressional ballot has been trending toward Republicans since Election Day, but Republicans have yet to overtake majority Democrats.

It was inevitable that President Obama's poll numbers would come down once the euphoria of the campaign died down and he began the tough work of governing. Obama has always been personally popular, but the public is less enthusiastic with his proposals. The longer he is in office, it seems, the more Americans are beginning to identify him with the policies he is proposing, and not the grand themes and generalizations of the presidential campaign. It will be interesting to see whether President Obama modifies his positions in response to his poll numbers, should they continue to fall.