Gallup has the bad news for Obama:

President Obama's average approval rating sank to a new low of 41% in the 11th financial quarter of his term, according to a new analysis of Gallup's daily tracking poll.

That number is down six percentage points from Obama's 10th quarter average, and is the lowest 11th quarter average posted by a sitting president since Jimmy Carter, who lost his reelection bid in 1980. (Carter's approval average that quarter was 31%.)

Obama's average approval rating over his entire term is now 50%.

Gallup's Jeffrey M. Jones notes that while the 11th quarter was so far Obama's worst, the 12th- and 13th- quarter averages will be better indicators of his reelection prospects. Those averages historically "give a strong indication of whether he will win a second term," Jones wrote in a summary of Gallup's findings.

Of 262 presidential quarters in which Gallup has calculated average presidential job approval ratings, the 11th quarter of Obama's term ranks 220th.

The USS Hope and Change has sprung a leak and appears to be going down.