Obama’s Approval Rating Tumbles as He Learns on the Job

By Bonnie Erbe, Thomas Jefferson Street blog

The President is slipping down a slick slope in public approval ratings. A new Rasmussen poll shows his public support down by 19 points since the beginning of the year:

Overall, 46% of voters say they at least somewhat approve of the President's performance. That's the lowest level of total approval yet measured for Obama. Fifty-three percent (53%) now disapprove. Eighty-one percent (81%) of Democrats approve while 83% of Republicans disapprove. As for those not affiliated with either major party, 66% disapprove.

Why is the public losing confidence so quickly? My set of predominant reasons would differ from most others'. First, he's a piker who's learning on the job and it shows. His stimulus package was not designed to have an immediate effect on the economy and he is not being credited with any improvement as a result. His laissez-faire approach to health care reform has fizzled.

Top that with the fact he's made a number of tactical errors such as reaching out too much and too often to his opponents and they're not listening. But his liberal base is, and it's fuming on a number of fronts, including most recently his decision to increase troops in Afghanistan.

Does that mean he won't win a second term? At this point I would say no. The disheveled GOP has yet to mount a candidate who can beat him. Maybe in a second term Mr. Obama will learn how to lead.

• Check out our political cartoons.
• Become a political insider: Subscribe to U.S. News Weekly, our digital magazine.
• Follow the Thomas Jefferson Street blog on Twitter.