Throughout the course of every presidency, a president will be judged by his approval ratings.
The more liked a president is, the better it is assumed he is doing as president.
Although the USA is going through some tough times with regards to the economy, Obama's approval ratings remain high.
When a president seeks a second term, it is generally believed that if a President has an approval rating over 50% then he would be reelected but if his/her numbers were to drop below that line, a second term would be unlikely.
To date, Obama's lowest rating was measured by Marist College to be at 55%.
The latest poll by CNN has his approval rate at 62%.
In addition to job approval polls, pollsters are also measuring Obama's favorability ratings.
It would make sense if those two were correlated and they are.
The higher the favorability rating, the higher the job approval is.
But they are not necessarily equal.
In fact, throughout the course of his presidency, Obama's favorability rating has consistently been in the high-60s while the job approval ratings have been all over the place.
This suggests that voters may have a favorable impression of him but still not approve of the way he is handling his job.
And that is a major cause for concern with any president.
One voter may be happy with his president in all respects except, for example, his handling on the war or handling on the economy.
And as a result, give him a negative job approval for it.