Obama Hit the Magic Number In Two Weekend Polls [View all]

[Playinghardball]

Business Insider: Though two weekend polls showed mixed results for the president, Barack Obama reached an important mark in both an ABC/Washington Post poll released Sunday night and a CNN poll released Friday. His approval rating hit 50 percent in both of them.

The 50-percent threshold is generally considered the point at which incumbents are safely re-elected. It’s the first time that Obama has hit the mark in the ABC/Post poll since April…

…. the 50-percent approval mark is a significant one, as Gallup managing editor Jeffrey M. Jones explained recently:

The 50% approval mark is significant because post-World War II incumbent presidents who have been above 50% job approval on Election Day were easily re-elected. Presidents with approval ratings below 50% have more uncertain re-election prospects….
Fronf on the Obama Diary