I’ve been saying for a good while that President Obama’s approval ratings and the right-track/wrong-track numbers would eventually begin to converge, and where and when that happened would be politically momentous.
Well, it’s happening more rapidly than I would have guessed, and the point of convergence is quite good for Obama.
The latest AP-GfK poll has the percentage of Americans believing that the country’s headed in the right as opposed to the wrong direction leading by 48% to 44%. I honestly can’t remember the last time a poll showed a right-track plurality, but it was probably just following 9/11; the ratio was at 17 to 78% just prior to the last election. The same poll showed Obama’s approval rating at 64%, pretty much where it’s been since he became president.
Whatever else this ultimately means, Obama has already gotten across the crisis point where people begin to hold him responsible for a status quo that they hate. They still don’t blame him at all for the economic crisis, but his presidency is making them feel better about the future. That’s exactly where he needs to be right now.