This is quite extraordinary when you consider the president has committed American forces to a war in the Middle East. It is extremely rare for a president not to get a nice little bump in approval from the public as they instinctively back the president in a crisis.

But from poll to poll, Obama is seeing his numbers reach their nadir, or near bottom for his presidency.

First, Quinnipiac:

American voters disapprove 48 - 42 percent of the job President Barack Obama is doing and say 50 - 41 percent he does not deserve to be re-elected in 2012, both all-time lows, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released today.

This compares to a 46 - 46 percent job approval rating and a 45 - 47 percent split on the President's re-election in a March 3 survey by the independent Quinnipiac (KWIN-uh-pe-ack) University. In a hypothetical 2012 matchup, President Obama gets 36 percent of the vote to 37 percent for an unnamed Republican challenger.

Democrats approve 80 - 13 percent of the job Obama is doing, but disapproval is 81 - 9 percent among Republicans and 50 - 39 percent among independent voters. Men disapprove 52 - 41 percent while women split 44 - 44 percent.

Voters oppose 47 - 41 percent America's involvement in Libya. In the survey concluded Monday evening as President Obama was addressing the nation about Libya, voters say 58 - 29 percent that he has not clearly stated U.S. goals for Libya.

For a president who basically lives or dies by the power of his rhetoric and speechifying to persuade voters, this is very bad news. He appears to have lost credibility on the most important issue of them all; war and peace.

Gallup shows that the public thinks Obama is something of a wimp:

Americans have grown increasingly less likely to view President Obama as a strong and decisive leader since he took office. Roughly half now believe this aptly describes, him compared with 60% a year ago and 73% in April 2009.

[...]

The decline in Obama's leadership rating stands in contrast to the stability in the trend for two other personal dimensions. Fifty-seven percent of Americans believe the president understand the problems Americans face in their daily lives, essentially unchanged from 56% in March 2010. And 51% of respondents believe Obama shares their values, similar to 48% last year. Both ratings are down from early 2009.

Altogether, Obama's ratings on being a strong and decisive leader are down a total of 21 percentage points since taking office, compared with a 15-point decline on understanding Americans' daily problems and a 9-point decline in sharing their values. Obama's overall job approval rating declined 16 points over the same time period.

I believe this reflects a continued worry about the economy and the future. Nothing much is happening with the economy - except housing values are still dropping like a stone , threatening a double dip recession and consumer spending is tanking again. Growth is anemic and we are cheering the fact that job growth was barely average last month. 

Check back in late summer. If these numbers have not improved and if the economy continues to limp along - or dives back into recession - Democrats will begin to get extremely antsy about their standard bearer.