I found some
stats on presidential approval rating over the past 60 years. And here's
more, with disapproval ratings, too.
From those graphs and numbers, it looks like Obama's actually been one of the more consistent presidents we've had. Granted, he hasn't been in for the whole four years, yet, but he's weighed in from 65% at the beginning of his term to 45% near the 2010 mark. Compare that to other presidents, who could drop 30 to 40 points in the course of one term, or fluctuate like a mad man.
He
is following the trend that most modern presidents follow (With Clinton being the exception), in that his approval rating is lower than it was when he first took office. Other presidents had wars and such to bolster and deflate them, too, and Obama's only been dealing with the after effects of war and some minor conflicts.
Looking at the end of the Wall Street Journal graph, it looks like his rating has actually gone
up during the whole ACTA/SOPA debacle (Probably because of the Bin Laden deal). I think the problem is that there just isn't enough noise to either make him back off. My biggest worry is that if someone else gets elected this year he'll just turns around and keep supporting it, despite all of the Republican candidates opposing SOPA. Obama opposed SOPA, too.
It looks like the newest polls have Obama fairly low on the approval/disapproval scale, though. Only the New York Times and CBS News have the approval rating significantly above the disapproval rating in the past few months (And that's the most recent). Everyone else has it about even, or the disapproval slightly above the approval.
Most voting choices these days seem to involve lesser evils.
I've felt the same way since forever. I've always wanted a serious Independent Party candidate - Someone who's smart enough not to jump on anything one party throws into the air and actually make some good, down-to-earth decisions for the folks. The system is geared towards people who lean one way or another, making it hard for someone who isn't conservative or liberal 'enough' to have a serious chance of winning. That's another thread, though...