One constant with Obama's approval ratings...

They've never been awful. At least on average, anyway. I'm sure there were polls out there that had him with a bad approval rating - but overall, Obama has consistently pulled in respectable numbers. Even when he was having an awful summer last year.

Using RealClearPolitics' approval ratings http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/other/president_obama_job_approval-1044.html">average, Obama's approval has fallen below 45% roughly three times in his presidency and they never stayed that low for long.

That tells me Obama's floor is probably 45% - which is remarkable with how difficult things have been in his presidency the last two years and few months.

More impressively, though, is that Obama has generally led Republicans wire-to-wire. There have been some instances where the a certain Republican will bump ahead of Obama, but no candidate has been able to hold on to their lead over Obama.

Huckabee hasn't led against Obama since October of 2010 - in a poll done by CNN (he led by 8). Since April of last year, Huckabee has only managed to lead Obama in a poll five times.

Romney does a bit better - but still is way behind. He last led Obama in a poll back in April, and it was a paltry 2 points. Since April of last year, Romney has led Obama a total of seven times. To compare, Obama has led Romney in 37 polls. Yes, 37.

After that, it gets ridiculous. Pawlenty, Trump, Palin, Daniels, Bachmann or Paul have never led Obama in a reputable national poll. Gingrich has done it once. All the way back July 2010.

Folks, you can't dismiss those numbers. No candidate consistently even proves they're capable of being in the same ring as Obama, let alone capable of winning.

So while his approval numbers aren't awesome, his overall position is extremely strong heading into reelection. I'd even wager he's in better position than any candidate since Nixon.

The Repigs have complete control of at least 27 states with a total of 270 electoral votes.
They have been doing state takeovers of a number of Democratic strongholds.

They may be able to steal the election, even if it isn't particularly close.

...would be a good start

Here's the RCP link for the Obama vs. ten republicans 'head to head' poll page

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/2012/president/president_obama_vs_republican_candidates.html

Looks to me like there is no one in those ten sections that have any chance of beating President Obama :)

Some bump ahead of him every now and then, but no candidate has sustained any type of lead against Obama.

I wanted to post the head-to-head link for the folks that didn't have it.
It's a good link to bookmark and keep an eye on ;)

If someone with a bit of gravitas who espouses traditional Democratic ideals runs against him, or a non-insane third party candidate runs against him, things will get interesting. For example, if CandidateObama ran against PresidentObama, the latter would be crushed.

You do realize Seth Myers was making a joke, right?

Just like when he said later "If your hair gets any whiter, the tea party will endorse it"

After Obama's ratings jumped to 56% after Bin Laden's death, "which means that nothing he can do will ever satisfy the other 46%."

We never get the full truth about anything.