The Incredible Shrinking Obama

Seven months into his term and the President in Training Pants is down to a 45% approval. How's that change working out, Barry?

President Barack Obama's job approval rating has sunk to a record low of just 45%, the latest Zogby Interactive poll shows. Fifty-one percent of likely voters now say they disapprove of the President's job performance.

"None of these numbers looks counter-intuitive to me. Gallup, NBC, and Pew all have Obama at record lows. Rasmussen also shows low approval. Things are volatile out there and news travels fast. There is a lot of anxiety over healthcare," said Zogby International President and CEO John Zogby. "The President let it get away from him and voters are scared right now. They are experiencing sacrifice overload and feel more threatened than empowered. The President is being forced to play defense and he is much better when he is in possession of the ball. But do not underestimate Obama. Last August he was toast."

I certainly don't underestimate any Chicago thugs and I must disagree with his being toast last August, unless you consider him being the toast of all the media, whose slobbering love affair with him is still going strong.

'I Thought He Overexposed Himself Weeks Ago'

Weeks ago? I though Barack Obama overexposed himself about two years ago.

The honeymoon is over, a national poll will signal today as President Obama’s job approval stumbles to about 50 percent over the lack of improvement with the crippled economy.

The sobering numbers come as the president backpedals from two prime-time gaffes - one comparing his bowling score to a Special Olympian and another awkwardly laughing about the economy, which prompted Steve Kroft of “60 Minutes” to ask “are you punch-drunk?”

Pollster John Zogby said his poll out today will show Americans split on the president’s performance. He said the score factors out to “about 50-50.”

Some polls show Obama coasting with a 65 percent job approval, but not in Zogby’s tally.

“The numbers are going down,” Zogby told the Herald. “It’s not because of the gaffes, but a combination of high expectations and that things aren’t moving fast enough with the economy.”

As for the president’s love of the limelight, it could backfire, according to a media watcher.

“I thought he overexposed himself weeks ago,” said Tobe Berkovitz, associate dean of Boston University’s College of Communication.

For good measure, Mr. Overexposed will be holding a primetime news conference tonight, interrupting your favorite programming. His TelePrompter will be busy prepping all day.

Maybe after a week spent attacking AIG, which comes after weeks of attacking Rush Limbaugh, he'll select a new target to obsess over tonight.

More from Jules Crittenden and Gateway Pundit.

Zogby: McCain/Palin Up 47-45%

I'm not buying this one completely, as Zogby has been off before, although as we noted earlier today Sarah Palin was already polling better than Joe Biden.

The latest nationwide survey, begun Friday afternoon after the McCain announcement of Palin as running mate and completed mid-afternoon today, shows McCain/Palin at 47%, compared to 45% support for Obama/Biden.

In other words, the race is a dead heat.

The interactive online Zogby survey shows that both Obama and McCain have solidified the support among their own parties - Obama won 86% support of Democrats and McCain 89% of Republicans in a two-way head-to-head poll question not including the running mates. When Biden and Palin are added to the mix, Obama's Democratic support remains at 86%, while McCain's increases to 92%.

Two words that may scare you off: interactive online. Keep that in mind.

If the daily tracker at Rasmussen moves significantly the next couple of days, then Zogby will have been ahead of the curve.

Via Instapundit.

Bombshell: McCain Takes Five-Point Lead Over Obama

Time to spin furiously, Baracky.

As Russian tanks rolled into the Republic of Georgia and the presidential candidates met over the weekend in the first joint issues forum of the fall campaign, the latest polling includes drama almost as compelling - Republican John McCain has taken a five-point lead over Democrat Barack Obama in the race for President, the latest Reuters/Zogby telephone survey shows.

McCain leads Obama by a 46% to 41% margin.

And McCain not only enjoys a five-point edge in a two-way race against Obama, but also in a four-way contest including liberal independent candidate Ralph Nader and Libertarian Bob Barr, the poll reveals. In the four-way contest, McCain wins 44% support, Obama 39%, Barr 3% and Nader 2%.

This latest Reuters/Zogby poll is a dramatic reversal from the identical survey taken last month – in the July 9-13 Reuters/Zogby survey, Obama led McCain, 47% to 40%. In the four-way race last month, Obama held a 10-point lead over McCain.

A 15-point swing. Boy, those glory days speaking in Berlin after the free concert sure seem like a long time ago, eh?

Slipping among Democrats, women and young voters.

What happened, Barry? Not enough support from those alleged Obamicans to make up the slack?

Certainly looks like that LA Times/Bloomberg poll was moving in the right direction.

One can only imagine the panic gripping Team Obama this morning. Of course, this will give Obama a perfect excuse (with a free pass from the Obamedia) to go after McCain on a personal level, which will only do more damage to him.

Expect a full-fledged freakout from the nutroots as well.

No matter how much the media and Team Obama will spin it, expect an all-out fusillade of negative attacks on McCain during the convention next week. Sure, Obama may get a slight bounce out of it, but he's sliding downhill rapidly and after promising hopenchange for so long, being seen as shrill and nasty may just finish him off.

Thanks to Hot Air for the link. Ed Morriseey notes:

Obama is in a free-fall. McCain got to the heart of the question about Obama, and especially after the crisis in Georgia, he has voters wondering whether Obama is up to the task of running the presidency as his first executive job in politics. Even a strong VP pick may not help reverse that perception — and could make it worse by overshadowing the nominee. Democrats may not have been in a weaker position at convention time since 1984.

More from Reuters.

Update: No movement in the daily Rasmussen numbers.

The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Wednesday shows
Barack Obama attracting 45% of the vote while John McCain earns 42%. When
"leaners" are included, it’s Obama 47% and McCain 46% (see recent daily results).

Arabs Suffering from Americanophobia

Clearly this is a mental disorder of some kind for which they should seek treatment. Though considering most of the media and Democrat Party also hate this country, I can't say I'm too surprised by these numbers.

Eight out of 10 Arabs have an unfavorable view of the United States and only six percent believe the U.S. troop build-up in Iraq in the last year has worked, said a poll of six Arab countries released on Monday.

The poll by the University of Maryland and Zogby International, also found most Arabs did not see U.S. foe Iran as a threat and they sympathized more with Hamas in the Palestinian Territories than U.S.-backed Fatah.

"There is a growing mistrust and lack of confidence in the United States," said Shibley Telhami, a University of Maryland professor in charge of the annual poll.

The survey canvassed the opinions of about 4,000 people over the past month in Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Morocco, Jordan, Lebanon and the United Arab Emirates. It has a margin of error of about 1.6 percent.

Of those polled, 83 percent had an unfavorable view of the United States and 70 percent had no confidence in the superpower.

I wonder how long it will take for some idiot Democrat to cite this poll as evidence the world hates us?

Meanwhile, in a related development, a new poll released today by JWF Associates reveals 98% of the American public hate pollsters, wish they would go live in some Arab country and just STFU.