Nationalized elections: Reading between voting lines

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Barack Obama is not on the ballot today.

Yet, when the day’s voting is done in Virginia, New Jersey and New York, many will insist that he was. Near the anniversary of his historic election as president, Obama’s own job approval rating -- 54% in a CNN/Opinion Research poll released today -- has slipped considerably since his inauguration in January. The CNN survey had it at 76% in early February, and 54% in the latest Oct. 30-Nov. 1 survey -- the president’s ratings hovering in the 50s since late July by CNN’s count.

It’s 53% in the latest Gallup Poll daily tracking, which measured Obama’s approval at 69% in late January. The president has bounced against a floor of 50% several times in the Gallup track but hasn’t slipped beneath it.

And both parties will attempt to interpret the outcome of today’s voting through the prism of those polls. See the most-watched election lineup in The Swamp.

-- Mark D. Silva