THERE'S ONE REASON FOR OBAMA'S POLL DECLINE

Washington Post today:

Deepening economic pessimism has pushed down President Obama's approval rating to a near record low, but he holds an early advantage over prospective 2012 rivals in part because of widespread dissatisfaction with Republican candidates, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll.

In the survey, 47 percent approve of the job Obama is doing, down seven points since January. Half of all Americans disapprove of his job performance, with 37 percent saying they "strongly disapprove," nearly matching the worst level of his presidency....

This follows a Gallup poll last week showing Obama at his all-time low approval rating.

The Post story suggests a reason for this decline, and it's the correct answer:

Driving the downward movement in Obama's standing are renewed concerns about the economy and fresh worry about rising prices, particularly for gasoline.

Anyone remember the famous chart that was created during the Bush years by Professor Pollkatz? Pollkatz inverted the traditional graphic rendering of the price of gas -- when the price went up, the line on the graph went down -- and then plotted that against Bush's poll numbers. Here was the result (click to enlarge):

So, yeah, that's how it works in this country. Four-dollar gas is -- by far -- the #1 impediment to Obama's reelection. Nothing else comes close.