MAYBE IT'S THE BATTERIES IN THE CALCULATOR – AT 8:05 P.M. ET:  At least, that's what the brains in the White House must be thinking as they look at today's report from Rasmussen, which makes a neat little package with the post just below this one:

The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Thursday shows that 23% of the nation's voters Strongly Approve of the way that Barack Obama is performing his role as president. Forty-seven percent (47%) Strongly Disapprove, giving Obama a Presidential Approval Index rating of -24 (see trends).

The Presidential Approval Index is calculated by subtracting the number who Strongly Disapprove from the number who Strongly Approve...

...Today's Approval Index rating is the lowest yet recorded for this president. Overall Job Approval matches the lowest recorded number, and the number who Strongly Disapprove matches the highest yet recorded.

The approval index essentially measures passion, something Mr. Obama once felt from the electorate.  What a difference a trillion dollars makes.

President Obama continues to earn Approval from 74% of Democrats. However, 88% of Republicans disapprove. So do 63% of those not affiliated with either major political party.

That independent figure is a disaster.  It means that the highest number of independents who approve is 37%.

We caution once again that daily tracking polls can be volatile, but there's been a downward trend for Mr. Obama in the Rasmussen surveys recently. 

Overall, 41% of voters say they at least somewhat approve of the president's performance. Fifty-eight percent (58%) disapprove.

COMMENT:  Mr. Obama is two points away from slipping into the thirties.  If that point is reached it will, by definition, prompt massive amounts of political commentary and heavy snickering. 

During his presidential campaign Mr. Obama was saved by the economic collapse of late September, 2008.  Voters inevitably turned to the alternative to the party in power.  We'll just have to wait to see if any new salvation lies around the corner.

September 9, 2010