Obama Approval: 47%, Palin Approval: 46%

I’d caution against comparing apples to oranges. Presidential-approval polling is a much different animal than public figure approval polling. That being said, those inclined to write Palin off would do well to reconsider.

First, el jefe. Facing double-digit unemployment, rising spending, deficits and Afghan war casualties plus a keystone but stalled healthcare reform effort that caused a rare Sunday presidential visit to Capitol Hill, Obama recently fell below 50% job approval for the first time.
Then, last week’s deft dance of rhetoric over sending reinforcements to Afghanistan but, on the other foot, bringing them home quickly maybe gave him a brief boost. That, however, collapsed with equal rapidity.
Obama’s new Gallup Poll job approval number is 47%. Last month it was 53%.
Regular Ticket readers will recall how in this space in late November we pointed out that Obama’s closely-watched job approval slide was coinciding with Palin’s little-noticed rise in favorability. And it appeared they might cross somewhere in the 40s.
Well, ex-Sen. Obama, meet ex-Gov. Palin.
The new CNN/Opinion Research Poll shows Palin now at 46% favorable, just one point below her fellow basketball fan.

Of course Palin, who has the luxury of not actually having to set any policy though the disadvantage of operating in a largely hostile media environment, has a long way to go. This may be a testament less to how popular Palin is becoming (though her popularity is certainly growing) than to just how unpopular Obama is becoming.