OBAMA'S POLL DANCE - AT 9:51 A.M. ET:  Two polls show the extent of the political crisis facing President Obama as he returns, or maybe returns, or semi-returns, from his Massachusetts vacation, apparently to spend some time at Camp David.  Guess the air conditioning at the Pennsylvania Avenue cottage isn't working very well. 

Rasmussen, reporting Obama's worst poll numbers yesterday, can do it again today.  Only 45% of likely voters approve of the president's performance, whereas 53% disapprove, a gap of eight points. 

And Zogby is reporting equally grim news for the president:

President Barack Obama's job approval rating is down to 42%, with a decline in approval from Democrats the leading factor.

The latest Zogby Interactive poll of 4,518 likely voters conducted from August 28-31 found 48% disapprove and 42% approve of the job Obama is doing. The poll found 75% of Democrats approve of Obama's performance, a drop of 13 points among Democrats from an interactive poll done July 21-24 of this year. That same poll found 48% of all likely voters approving of Obama's job performance, and 49% disapproving.

COMMENT:  The president is losing ground almost everywhere, but often for entirely different reasons.  Some in his own party think he's not left enough, outside the party they fear he's gone too far in that direction. 

And the 2010 campaigns are about to be launched.  The president returns to work in a position dramatically weakened from where he was only a few months ago, and no real plan to ease the crisis.

September 1, 2009