Obama’s ratings are tanking.

Barack Obama sees worst poll rating drop in 50 years

The decline in Barack Obama’s popularity since July has been the steepest of any president at the same stage of his first term for more than 50 years.

Gallup recorded an average daily approval rating of 53 per cent for Mr Obama for the third quarter of the year, a sharp drop from the 62 per cent he recorded from April.

His current approval rating – hovering just above the level that would make re-election an uphill struggle – is close to the bottom for newly-elected president. Mr Obama entered the White House with a soaring 78 per cent approval rating.

…even among the true blue.

President Obama blows into the bluest state today facing a cold shoulder from once true-blue admirers, as gay rights activists, anti-war protesters and vexed environmentalists vow to picket a fund-raiser he’s headlining for Gov. Deval Patrick — a marquee event that hasn’t even sold out.

And as the Virginia governorship is likely to go Republican in two weeks, Obama’s spinners are saying it’s not Obama’s fault.

A well-known Democratic strategist in Virginia is blasting the White House for placing anonymous quotes in the Washington Post in a pre-emptive effort to blame Creigh Deeds for what might be a loss in the state’s upcoming gubernatorial election.

David “Mudcat” Saunders, who gained political fame helping Democrat Mark Warner reach out to rural voters during Warner’s successful 2001 gubernatorial bid, told CNN Friday that trying to blame Deeds is “bulls**t” when Democrats around the country are “just tired of politics.”

“The Democrats right now are a real bruised brand right now where I am,” Saunders said in a phone interview from his home near Roanoke. “There was so much energy put into last year’s race, everybody’s just burned out. You can’t get anybody fired up.”