OBAMA'S POLL PAIN - AT 8:08 A.M. ET:  One major poll now has the president's approval rating at below 50%, and shows other troubling signs as well.  Political reporter Lynn Sweet, of the Chicago Sun-Times, reports:

President Barack Obama's job approval rating is 48 - 42 percent, the first time he has slipped below the 50 percent threshold nationally, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released today. Support for the war in Afghanistan and approval of President Obama's handling of the war also is down in the last month, and Republican support for the war is more than twice as strong as Democratic support.

Some of the internals are dramatic, and show how divided this society has become:

The President has a yawning gender and racial gap, with women approving his job performance 52 - 37 percent, compared to men's 47 - 44 percent disapproval. He gets 89 percent job approval among blacks and 62 percent approval among Hispanics while white voters disapprove 49 - 41 percent. His support also wanes as you go up the age and income scale.

Well, there you see the GOP dilemma.  While it's unlikely the Republicans make inroads among blacks, given their understandable loyalty to Mr. Obama, the numbers show the work the GOP must do to win women, Hispanics, and the young.  If well done, that effort can produce some inroads.

The poll shows far greater support among Republicans than Democrats for enlarging our effort in Afghanistan.

"Increasingly, the President finds himself with two different coalitions, one that backs him on domestic matters and a completely different one that backs him on Afghanistan. That could create a challenge to his considerable political skills," said Peter Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute.

The erosion of support for national defense generally within the Democratic Party, an erosion that started in the sixties, has become disgraceful.  The Democrats are truly becoming a leftist party.  I recall President Kennedy pledging to "pay any price" in defense of freedom.  If only he could see his party now.

November 18,  2009