Ken Berwitz

It is clear that Democratic candidates - a great many of them - intend to run for re-election this year without seeking President Obama's support and, in some cases, specifically running against his policies.

Why, you might ask, would they do such a thing?

Here are the past week and a half''s data from Rasmussen's presidential tracking poll.  Maybe they will provide a bit of insight:

Date	Presidential Approval Index	Strongly Approve	Strongly Disapprove	Total Approve	Total Disapprove
9/09/2010	-24	23%	47%	41%	58%
9/08/2010	-18	26%	44%	45%	54%
9/07/2010	-18	27%	45%	45%	55%
9/06/2010	-20	26%	46%	45%	54%
9/05/2010	-23	24%	47%	42%	57%
9/04/2010	-21	24%	45%	42%	56%
9/03/2010	-16	27%	43%	44%	55%
9/02/2010	-13	29%	42%	47%	52%
9/01/2010	-12	29%	41%	48%	51%
8/31/2010	-14	27%	41%	48%	51%
8/30/2010	-12	28%	40%	46%	52%
8/29/2010	-12	28%	40%	46%	52%

As you can see, President Obama's "passion index" (the difference between those who strongly approve and strongly disapprove of his performance) is now at -24%.  The lowest ever in this poll. 

And his total approval is 41%.  That also is the lowest ever in this poll.

If these data are accurate, or anywhere close, they should give you a pretty good idea of why Democrats are deserting Mr. Obama in droves.

Do you blame them?