The state of the union

The vast majority of Democrat voters in the United States have so far stuck loyally to their man but Barack Obama is now presiding over a much divided nation. The Gallup organisation, in an analysis of its polling over the last year, has found the 65 percentage-point gap between Democrats’ (88%) and Republicans’ (23%) average job approval ratings is easily the largest for any president in his first year in office, greatly exceeding the prior high of 52 points for Bill Clinton.

Gallup reports that overall Overall, Obama averaged 57% job approval among all Americans from his inauguration to the end of his first full year on Jan. 19. He came into office seeking to unite the country, and his initial approval ratings ranked among the best for post-World War II presidents, including an average of 41% approval from Republicans in his first week in office. But he quickly lost most of his Republican support, with his approval rating among Republicans dropping below 30% in mid-February and below 20% in August. Throughout the year, his approval rating among Democrats exceeded 80%, and it showed little decline even as his overall approval rating fell from the mid-60s to roughly 50%.

Now it seems that even that loyal support from Democrats may be about to wane. The liberal commentators I read are beginning to express disappointment at the performance of their man whose overall approval rating has slipped below 50%