Obama: That Sinking Feeling

Democrats laughed and hooted and howled when President Bush's approval ratings started to hover in the low 40s even though it took Bush quite a few years in office to reach that point.
But now that Barack Obama has fallen to the same lows after just a year in office, all's quiet on the liberal front.
You can almost hear a pin drop.
None of the liberal cognoscenti and nobody in the mainstream media wants to wants to talk about it but the numbers tell the story better than words: Obama has lost traction. Independents are deserting him in droves. Seniors have pretty much given up on him. Middle class voters are disenchanted. People disagree with his policies. And, perhaps worst of all, a lot of people just don't believe him anymore.
Credibility is a rare commodity in politics. Once lost, it's hard to regain.
It's so bad that fewer than one in four voters strongly disapprove of the way the President is handling his job. And nearly twice as many strong disapprove.
Counting all levels of disapproval, more than half of all voters strong disapprove of Obama's performance thus far.
And the President didn't help himself at the highly vaulted healthcare summit. He came across as brusque, presumptuous, arrogant and peevish.

Here are all the numbers from the latest Rasmussen poll:
The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Saturday shows that 22% of the nation's voters Strongly Approve of the way that Barack Obama is performing his role as President. Forty-three percent (43%) Strongly Disapprove giving Obama a Presidential Approval Index rating of -21. That matches the lowest Approval Index rating yet recorded for President Obama.
The only other time the Approval Index was this low came in late December as the U.S. Senate prepared to approve its version of health care reform (see trends). Most voters continue to oppose the proposed health care plan.
The Presidential Approval Index is calculated by subtracting the number who Strongly Disapprove from the number who Strongly Approve.
Overall, 43% of voters say they at least somewhat approve of the President's performance. That is the lowest level of total approval yet measured for this President. Fifty-five percent (55%) disapprove. The President earns approval from 76% of Democrats while 86% of Republicans disapprove. Among those not affiliated with either major party, 38% approve and 61% disapprove. The President earns approval from 37% of men and 49% of women.