Is Obama’s popularity at a tipping point?

Here’s a bit of political trivia from a proud history major:

The first April of a second presidential term has proven to be a tipping point in the popularity of re-elected presidents.

For George W. Bush and Richard M. Nixon, it was all downhill from there. For Bill Clinton (despite impeachment) and Ronald Reagan (despite the Iran-Contra scandal), it was a pathway to historically high job approval ratings.

The new CNN/ORC poll released today placed Obama at 51 percent, very close to the April approval ratings of each of the four other second-term presidents.

What comes next? That’s for the history books.

>>> Explore Gallup’s historical polling data and come up with your own comparisons.