POLLS GET STILL WORSE FOR OBAMA – AT 10:58 A.M. ET:  The message is certainly being sent, as the National Journal's Hotline reports:

A year into his tenure, a majority of Americans would already vote against Pres. Obama if the '12 elections were held today, according to a new survey.

The Allstate/National Journal Heartland Monitor poll shows 50% say they would probably or definitely vote for someone else. Fully 37% say they would definitely cast a ballot against Obama. Meanwhile, just 39% would vote to re-elect the pres. to a 2nd term, and only 23% say they definitely would do so.

Obama's first year in office has been marked by an unemployment rate that surged to 10%, an increased commitment of troops to Afghanistan and a health care battle that has taken a serious political toll on the WH.

Obama's approval rating is down to 47%, the poll showed, a 14-point drop since the April survey. 45% disapprove, up 17 points from April. Only 41% say they trust Obama more than Congressional GOPers, while 33% pick the GOP over the WH. That 8-point gap is down from a 21-point edge Obama sported as recently as Sept.

Just 34% say the country is moving in the right direction, down 13 points since April, and 55% say it is off on the wrong track, up 13 points over the same period.

COMMENT:  The White House would do itself, and the country, a big favor by pulling the health-care plan, which is in trouble in Congress anyway.  It gets more and more unpopular, and is bringing down the administration.  The president should simply say that he is not satisfied with the result, and ask Congress to start over, with much more modest goals.

That might salvage some of the president's political capital, which is being used up rapidly.  It would also serve the country.  However, I doubt if it will happen.  The left wing of the Democratic Party believes that this is their moment.  They will not give up their chance to return to the 1960s, which was really their moment. 

Ah youth.

January 14, 2010