Obama Approval Dips Under 50 Percent Again in Gallup Poll

It made news last month when President Obama's job approval rating dipped below 50 percent for the first time in Gallup's surveys, but after briefly inching back over 50 percent last week, the pollster says he's back down to 47 percent approval for the Dec. 4-6 period.

The 52 percent approval rating Obama notched last week came after his long-awaited Afghanistan speech, but Gallup said "any slight bump in support Obama received coincident with his new Afghanistan policy proved to be very short-lived."

"Thus far in December, Obama has averaged 50 percent job approval," Gallup said. "That is similar to the December averages for Ronald Reagan (49 percent) and Bill Clinton (53 percent), who also took office when the economy was struggling. All other recent presidents elected to their first terms had approval averages of 57 percent or above in their first December in office."