Obama at lowest approval at this stage in his presidency in history. Below Carter.
Gallup Polling firm's daily presidential job approval index put the current president‘s job approval rating at 43 percent compared to President Jimmy Carter’s 51 percent: US News and World Report:
The job approval numbers for other presidents at this stage of their terms, a year before the re-election campaign: -- Harry S. Truman: 54 percent. -- Dwight Eisenhower: 78 percent. -- Lyndon B. Johnson: 44 percent. -- Richard M. Nixon: 50 percent. -- Ronald Reagan: 54 percent. -- George H.W. Bush: 52 percent. -- Bill Clinton: 51 percent. -- George W. Bush: 55 percent. What's more, Gallup finds that Obama's overall job approval rating so far has averaged 49 percent. Only three former presidents have had a worse average rating at this stage: Carter, Ford, and Harry S. Truman. Only Truman won re-election in an anti-Congress campaign that Obama's team is using as a model.
To counter this the GOP should run against the Senate and the Democratic leadership. The Senate will not even do it's constitutional duty and pass a budget. The GOP has passed job bills that actually are not government power grabs, balanced budget proposals, regulatory reforms etc and Democrats in the Senate will not even allow them to come to the floor.