Even so, a president's standing at the moment is more than a matter of vanity. It affects his ability to hold the members of his own party and persuade those on the other side to support him, at least on the occasional issue.
"Approval ratings are absolutely critical for a president achieving his agenda," says Republican pollster Whit Ayres.
For Obama, the timing of his slide in ratings is particularly unhelpful: He's intensified his push to pass health care bills in the House and Senate before Congress leaves on its August recess. He'll press his case at a news conference at 8 p.m. Wednesday.
His overall approval rating has dropped 9 percentage points since his inauguration in January, and his disapproval rate has jumped 16 points, to 41%.
Trouble at home
More people disapprove than approve of Obama on four domestic issues: the economy, taxes, health care and the federal budget deficit. He scores majority approval on handling Iraq, Afghanistan and foreign affairs.
The biggest drop has been on his handling of the economy, down 12 points since February; his disapproval is up 19 points. The most erosion has come not from Republicans or independents but among his own Democrats. Support from conservative and moderate Democrats is down by 18 points. Another group in the party's political base — those earning $20,000 to $50,000 a year — had a drop of 15 percentage points, to 47%.
That could reflect one reason why moderate Democratic senators and the fiscally conservative Blue Dog Democrats in the House are demanding more cost controls in the health care plan before they'll sign on.
"It's important if a president is trying to accomplish some big stuff legislatively," H.W. Brands, a professor at the University of Texas-Austin, says of the approval rating. He was one of several presidential historians who sat down with Obama at a private White House dinner this month. "Members of Congress are somewhat reluctant to tangle with a president who seems to have the backing of the American people."
We have seen this happen in politics for decades, as the American people start to understand how a president's policies and agendas will adversely affect their pocketbook, those agendas start losing support among politicians as well.
Look at Obamacare as an example, at first every Democrat in Congress was gung ho to back him because on the surface saying "something" has to be done, sounds great, but when the bills are written and the costs are seen, things change and Obama is losing support from moderate Democrats who are critical to the passing of his agenda.
Same with the stimulus package that was just passed, billions upon billions, I believe it was 787 of them and the monies did not go to the states that needed it the most, the monies were mismanaged and did nothing to stimulate the economy as was promised, so bet your ass the second stimulus package they have been hinting at, will get a lot less support when they finally unveil the supposed "need" for it.
So as more polls show more of a decline for Democrats and Obama's agendas, expect to see more of the Democratic politicians starting to jump off the sinking ship.
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