Hotline On Call

Add another data point to the pile of evidence that President Obama is going to face a tough re-election bid: His approval rating in Gallup's daily tracking poll has fallen to a new low.

Following an unpopular agreement to raise the nation's debt ceiling, a credit downgrade and a significant sell-off on Wall Street, Obama's approval rating dipped below 40 percent in the Gallup poll.

Thirty-nine percent of Americans now approve of the job Obama is doing as president, while 54 percent disapprove, according to interviews conducted Thursday, Friday and Saturday. The percentage of Americans who disapprove of Obama's job performance is also at a new high.

Obama won a brief bump in May after he announced Osama bin Laden's death; Obama's approval rating, which had sunk to 43 percent, jumped to 53 percent in late May. But a little more than two months later, Obama's approval rating had fallen to its previous low-water mark.

The Gallup daily tracking poll surveys approximately 500 adults each night. The margin of error for the three-day rolling sample is +/- 2.5 percent.