A recent Zogby poll of 2,032 likely voters has the Obama approval rating below 40% for the first time of the Obama presidency.  This new low follows the defeat of the Democrats in the November mid-term elections where the republicans gained several seats in the Senate and gained control of the House with a record number of gains.

The Zogby poll of the Obama approval rating continues to show a decline of support for the President’s agenda.  As recently as October, Zogby had the Obama approval rating at 49%.  The poll indicates that the Obama approval rating is 6% among Republicans and un-changed among Independents at 39% when compared to a poll conducted earlier in November.

Perhaps more worrisome for the President is that the Obama approval rating among Democrats has slipped from 78% to 72%.

The Zogby poll of the Obama approval rating also polled several 2012 Presidential race matchups.  The poll shows President Obama losing out to Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich, and Jeb Bush.  The poll also has President Obama barely ahead of Sarah Palin 41% to 40%.  Romney had the best showing of 44% to 38%.  Also of note, approximately 17% of those polled indicated “Neither” when presented with a list of Republicans versus Obama.

The Zogby numbers for the Obama approval rating are below the Real Clear Politics average of 46%.

The Obama approval rating is suffering as Conservatives are unhappy with Obama’s far left agenda and the Democrat far left are unhappy with Obama’s lack of progress on implementing his leftist agenda. 

During Obama’s 2008 campaign, if it indeed it ever ended, the President offered hope and change driving support among independents who expected a change in the way that Washington works.  To the left, this meant implementing an agenda that pushed America closer to state capitalism or further to outright socialism.  So far, Obama has failed to deliver either.

Obama has few options over the next 2 years.  He can either work with the Republican controlled House and deliver policies more aimed at the political center or demonize the Republican party by claiming they are stopping him from delivering on all his “hope and changey” promises.

Obama once said that he would rather be a great one term president than an OK two term president.  He will more likely end up being neither.

Today, the daily tracking poll shows the Obama presidential approval rating dropping to 45%.  This is the lowest Obama presidential approval rating so far.

The interesting thing is the breakdown of the results of the Obama approval poll.  “Fifty-two percent (52%) of Democrats Strongly Approve while 68% of Republicans Strongly Disapprove. Among those not affiliated with either major political party, just 16% Strongly Approve and 51% Strongly Disapprove”.  With 51% of independents strongly disapproving, Obama will have a tough time keeping is approval poll numbers up.

The Obama approval polls show that the Obama presidential approval rating continues to decline.  As his policies and the policies of the Democrat lead congress continue to become increasling unpopular, pressure will be put on Obama and congress to stop pushing new national debt exploding policies that most Americans disagree with.

However, one is often left with several questions if you are looking at polling data on the same subject that are taken during the same time frames.

For example, on 10/14 Fox News reported that President Obama had an approval of 49% of respondents and a 45% disapproval.  A difference of positive 4.  However, on 10/18,  ABC News/WaPo reported that President Obama had an approval rating of 57% and a disapproval of 40%.  A positive 17 percent difference.

What can explain the difference? 

“… do you support candidate A’s common sense approach to problem x or candidate B’s reckless and irresponsible policies?”

Most likely the biggest difference is that Fox news interview sample was 41% Democrats, 37% Republicans, 16% Independent, and 5% other/don’t know.  The ABC/WaPo interview sample was 33%  Democrat, 20% Republican, 42% Independent, and 5% other/don’t know.  The independents were roughly a wash with 20% leaning Democrat and 19%  leaning Republican.

As you can see in the WaPo sample, the vast majority of people interviewed were Democrats or lean Democrat.  Adding the percentages together, the ABC/WaPo sample was 53% left, 39% right, and the rest center or don’t know.  ADD moment: what is up with all these “don’t know” people?  It turns out that Democrats support President Obama more so than Republicans.  I am sure that if you polled a vast majority of Republicans, the approval would plummet and the disapproval would skyrocket.

According to a story at HotAir.com, a recent Gallup poll put the difference between Democrats and Republicans at 6 points and not the 14% represented in the ABC/WaPo poll.

Another interesting tactic to skew the results is the words used when asking a the question.  For instance, I once received a robo-call asking me ”do you support candidate A’s common sense approach to problem x or candidate B’s reckless and irresponsible policies?”  Um, what was that common sense one again?

There is a great post over at RealClearPolitics.com that shows how the language used can boost or hurt perceived support for the “public option”.  Support shoots up if the poll uses words like “choose” and “compete”.  However, when words like “government controlled” or “taxpayer funded”, the support drops.

I’ve become a big fan of Real Clear Politics as you can click on a poll and often get the details on who was asked what.  A reputable pollster will at least include some statistics that can help you gauge any bias in the poll.

By the way, 100% of those surveyed strongly approved of Conservative Patriot HQ.