President Obama's approval rating has taken a dive below fifty-percent again recently--the chart above comes courtesy of RealClearPolitics Average, which puts the President's approval rating (the black line) at 45.3 percent compared to the 50 percent of people who disapprove of his job (red).

While the chart is notable, it's worth pointing out, too, that these numbers are given to fluctuation: Obama was in a similar position as recently as last November. At the same time, these poll numbers do hold implications for Presidential elections: Nate Silver has this post from January charting election day polling of incumbent Presidents compared to the results of their re-election bids, finding that "every incumbent with an approval rating of 49 percent or higher won re-election, while every candidate with a rating of 48 percent or lower lost." Still in the mercurial world of public opinion, November 2012 is a long way off.

h/t James Pethokoukis

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Eli Rosenberg