Obama is close to hitting a less than 50% approval rating (he's currently at 51%)...

Both George Bushes were in office roughly three full years before their approval ratings slid below 50%.

Lyndon Johnson and Richard Nixon both served more than two years in office before their approval ratings fell below 50%

Excluding Kennedy's presidency, the average amount of time before a president lost majority approval is 23 months. The typical or median length is 13 months.

WAY TO GO... HE'S AHEAD OF SCHEDULE... NOW IF ONLY HE'D COME IN UNDER BUDGET... ONE CAN STILL DREAM...

Dubya did not follow the worst president in history and inherit an economy in shambles.Obama has to deal with that legacy and deal with a population that thinks instant gratification is a way of life.
No surprise to me on poll numbers.

And Dave, stay away from that Limbaugh Kool-aid, it's full of oxycotin!

I've never paid much attention to polls,,,
shrub never had my approval while he went about trashing the presidency and the economy.
Obama has my approval, now and for the next 7+ years of his presidency, and beyond. (unless of course, he does a photo op on the deck of a battleship with MISSION ACCOMPLISHED banners flying behind him)
Why would i have to ask someone else their opinion? Just like dave, I have my own.

Obama never had my approval to begin with. Pass around the Limbaugh kool-aid. Might do some good lol... <g> (Bad joke I know-- about the koolaid)

Back away from the Kool-ade, Cheryl...you KNOW it's not on the list of approved diabetes foods!

Don't worry, I'm going for the sugar-free kind...

Democracy, an emotional way to govern! Lost in election emotions and found in the practical world!

All the people you mentioned, LBJ, Nixon, GW, made incredible blunders when their approval ratings were high. GW had high approval ratings while his Dick (Cheney) gave away millions of tax payer dollars to his friends in the name of war for Democracy.

So how does this approval rating thing help us progress into the future?

a sound question

I think this whole wanting them to fail thing has gotten out of hand! Like health care, everybody knows reforms are necessary but nobody wants the other guy's plan to work. I know there are tons of monies involved and insurance companies want to maintain their control and BIG PHARMA wants to maintain dependence, but when all is said and done their is always a substantial component of the population that wants failure because success is not philosophically pleasing.

Found these while looking for another quote. They seem to fit the present as well as the past.

"The thought manifests as the word;
The word manifests as the deed;
The deed develops into habit;
And habit hardens into character;
So watch the thought and its ways with care,
And let it spring from love
Born out of concern for all beings… " Ralph Waldo Emerson

"As the shadow follows the body,
As we think, so we become."

From the Dhammapada sayings of the Buddha

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allport%27s_Scale

"The whole world is festering with unhappy souls.." - The Merry Minuet

As long as we are readily reactive, we are easily played. It is lesson one in politics: don't react until YOU choose the action. Otherwise, one is just another stream eroding the banks of the river of life carrying the garbage to the next shallow. To stop mindless acts, one must cease to create purposeless thought. It is one of the true paradoxes of enlightened living: to become mindful of mindlessness, one practices thinking without thought.

"I pretended to be somebody I wanted to be and I finally became that person. Or he became me. Or we met at some point.”

-- Cary Grant

We could put all these unhappy souls who seem to thrive on the failure of others on antidepressants! That would at least shut big pharma up for a while until we can get some real change going...

Meanwhile pretty sure bet that if the media is involved the approval ratings are a bunch of hype!

This ticks me off!

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090909/ap_ ... e_overhaul

They want to impose fines for those who don't have health insurance. They don't realize if we don't have it it's because we either can't afford it and/or have a pre-existing condition and the insurance companies won't insure those with pre-exisisting conditions. Obama PLEASE oppose the fines and don't let them do this. Thanks!

Fines for not having health insurance is sillier than silly. If everyone could just look up the word "socialism" in a dictionary and understand that it is not a bad or dirty word, and the U.S. passed a universal health care plan, a plan where EVERYONE is insured, there would be no more discussions about fines.