Obama Rating Drops to Lowest Ever, According to Gallup

Survey, made public today Melbourne time, shows that 39 per cent of Americans approve of the President's job performance, while 54 per cent disapprove.

Both figures are the worst numbers of his presidency, according to US media reports.

Mr Obama's approval rating peaked at 53 per cent in the weeks following the death of al-Qa'ida founder Osama bin Laden, who was killed by US special forces in Pakistan in May.

But it has been steadily declining in the wake of economic reports showing anemic growth and Standard & Poor's decision to downgrade the US credit rating.

The slide comes as Obama launches a political counteroffensive this week, while he’s weighed down by wilting support among some of his most ardent backers, a stunted economy and a daily bashing from the slew of Republicans campaigning for his job.

"We've still got a long way to go to get to where we need to be. We didn't get into this mess overnight, and it's going to take time to get out of it," the president told the U.S. over the weekend, all but pleading for people to stick with him.

A deeply unsettled political landscape, with voters in a fiercely anti-incumbent mood, is framing the 2012 presidential race 15 months before Americans decide whether to give Obama a second term or hand power to the Republicans. Trying to ride out what seems to be an unrelenting storm of economic anxiety, people in the United States increasingly are voicing disgust with most all of the men and women, Obama included, they sent to Washington to govern them.

A poll Gallup released Friday on congressional approval showed that Democrats hold an edge over Republicans in the 2012 elections; 51 percent of registered voters favored Democrats, while 44 percent favored GOP lawmakers "if the elections for Congress were being held today."

The Democratic president will try to ease voter worries and sustain his resurrected fighting spirit when he sets off Monday on a bus tour of Minnesota, Iowa and Illinois. The trip is timed to dilute the buzz emanating from the Midwest after Republicans gathered in Iowa over the weekend for a first test of the party's White House candidates. The state holds the nation's first nominating test in the long road toward choosing Obama's opponent.