Obama Plunges to 36% Approval in NY: 'His Job Performance Has Not Fallen, It Has Tanked'

Of course whenever such dreadful news hits, it has to still come out looking good for Obama. So while two-thirds of New Yorkers disapprove of him, they'll still be voting for him in 2012 or something.

Sure.

President Obama's job approval ratings are the worst they've ever been in the Empire State, but voters here are still sticking with him in 2012, according to a new Siena College poll released today.

The poll finds that just 36% of New Yorkers approve of Obama's job performance -- a 17-point plummet from the 53% rating he received in May. Meanwhile, 63% of voters give the president a negative job performance rating.

"His job performance has not fallen, it has tanked," said Siena pollster Steven Greenberg.

"Even Democrats are evenly divided. For the first time since March, fewer than half of voters say they are prepared to re-elect the president."

But Obama still holds a commanding lead over all of the declared and potential GOP contenders for the White House in 2012, with former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani putting up the strongest fight (44% to the president's 50%). Giuliani, an unsuccessful 2008 presidential hopeful, has not declared his candidacy this time around, but reports say he's assembling a team of political operatives in New Hampshire for another bid.

"If the Democratic National Committee has to spend money competing in New York for the presidential victory next year, they are in big trouble,” Greenberg said.

“Because if they are competing in New York, which is a two-to-one Democratic state, that does not bode well for them nationally."

Indeed, spending any resources in states that haven't gone Republican in a generation means Obama's in deep trouble.

It'll be interesting to see what kind of behind-the-scenes meetings occur at Chez Clinton while Obama's off golfing in Martha's Vineyard. Democrats might want to use that time to figure out a way to usher this boob out the door gracefully unless they want to join him on the sinking ship. They can chew on these numbers.

The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Tuesday shows that 19% of the nation's voters Strongly Approve of the way that Barack Obama is performing his role as president. Forty-two percent (42%) Strongly Disapprove, giving Obama a Presidential Approval Index rating of -23..

At 19%, the number who Strongly Approve matches the lowest total yet recorded for this president. It has fallen that low only once before, on April 11 of this year. While 45% of Democrats Strongly Approve, just 4% of Republicans and 8% of unaffiliated voters share that enthusiasm.