But that number is not as bad as it could be when looking back over the last 30 years at other presidents as they finished their second full year in office.
The stability in Obama's rating since the midterm elections is notable, as the Gallup poll revealed, saying most presidents whose parties suffered heavy losses in the midterms saw their average approval ratings fall after the midterm elections through the end of the year, including George W. Bush (down three percentage points in 2006), Bill Clinton (down four points in 1994), and Gerald Ford (down eight points in 1974).
Ronald Reagan's approval ratings were unchanged after the 1982 midterm elections.
The largest post-midterm drop for a president's approval rating since 1974 was Reagan's 15-point decline in 1986, but that was in response to the Iran-Contra scandal rather than the outcome of that year's midterm elections.
Obama’s job approval rating has held steady in the mid-40% range since the midterm elections last month. His average rating for the week leading up to the midterms was 45%, and it has remained close to that, including a 46% rating for the week of Nov. 29-Dec. 5.
Obama's job approval rating has bounced back to 43% after tying an all-time low of 39% in early December, according to a new Zogby poll released Wednesday.
Also increasing over that time are the number of voters who approve of the performance of Congress and the number that believe the nation is headed in the right direction. These changes were caused primarily by positive movement among Democratic voters.
The Zogby poll of likely voters shows Obama's job approval among Democrats at 86%, compared to 73% on Dec. 10. However, approval among independents continued to slip to 32%. On Dec. 14, 36% of independents approved of the President's job performance, and on Nov. 22 that number was 39%. Approval from Republicans is again 7%.
Significantly, the poll found an increase in those saying the nation is heading in the right direction, from 22% on Dec. 10, 2010 to 29% now; while those saying we are headed in the wrong direction fell from 68% to 60%.
Among Democrats, the number choosing right direction increased from 48% to 62%.
On Dec. 10, approval of the job performance of Congress was 12%, and it is now 21%. Among Democrats, approval increased from 23% to 44%. Overall approval of Democrats in Congress went up from 27% to 32%, and approval of their Republican colleagues fell slightly from 28% to 25%.
