Gallup provides the historic polling numbers and compares Obama's numbers with previous figures from the 13th quarter of other presidential candidates hoping for reelection and finds Obama behind every president but George H. W. Bush.
Obama is behind Jimmy Carter even.
Implications Obama remains short of the historical comfort zone -- above 50% approval -- that most successfully re-elected presidents achieved during their re-election year. However, he is not far below that threshold, and has seen his approval rating improve over the last two quarters.
Historical polling data is not the only thing indicative of Barack Obama's bad positioning during a reelection campaign year as the New York Times reports "Obama Sees Steep Dropoff in Cash From Major Donors."
This gives more credence to the reports claiming that " Democrats Are Jumping Ship."