Zogby Poll: Grab the Lifeboats, Obama's Ship is Sinking

Yep, just 45% of likely voters now approve of President Obama's performance, according to the latest Zogby poll.

Asked whether they approve or disapprove of the president's job performance, just 45.3 percent of likely voters say they approve. That compares with 50.5 percent who disapprove of the job Obama is doing.

The results are a strong indication that contentious national debate over healthcare reform has taken a major toll on the president's popularity.

Dick Morris commented on the poll for Newsmax:

"As soon as Obama dropped below 52 percent . . . he was leaking real voters who had backed him in November," Morris tells Newsmax. "Now that he is down to 45 percent among likely voters . . . he is in deep political trouble."

Of greatest concern to Obama may well be his decline among all-important independent voters. Just 37.5 percent of self-identified independents say they approve of how Obama is handling the presidency. That compares with 59.2 percent of independents who disapprove.

"There is nothing counterintuitive in any of these numbers," pollster John Zogby of Zogby International tells Newsmax. "The president is clearly taken a slide — most especially with independent voters, who play such an important role in any legislation or policy support.

"Interestingly, the president had been making some inroads with groups like investors, and frequent Walmart shoppers . . . both typically conservative," Zogby says. "However, he has slipped considerably with them in this poll."

Zogby adds: "The healthcare plan appears to be consolidating conservative opposition and scaring independent voters."

84 percent of likely Democrat voters still approve of the job Obama is doing, which I find simply mind-boggling. It leads me to suggest that the Democrats may be leaking registered voters, with many of the less liberal ones switching their registration to Independent or Republican. That's something to definitely watch for in the coming months. Republicans leaked massive amounts of voters in the last years of President Bush, and plenty of those people can't be liking what they are seeing on the Dem side.

Any thoughts on that, or are Democrat voters choosing to be particularly partisan with this President?