Ouch.

A majority of Americans rates President Obama “about the same” or “worse” than his predecessor, George W. Bush, according to a new Gallup poll.

When a random sample of 1004 adults were asked to compare the 43rd and 44th presidents, 34 percent of respondents said Obama had been a worse president than Bush, while 22 percent said he was about the same.

Forty-three percent, a plurality, said they preferred Obama’s handling of the presidency.

The poll, conducted Sept. 15-18, has a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points. It did not specify criteria for making the comparison between presidents.

I assume the criteria would simply be how individuals view each man: Which was better in your opinion? And a majority said Obama was either the same or worse.

I would appreciate more insight into “handling of the presidency”, though. Seems like an odd topic not to expound upon.

But who cares what Republicans or Democrats think. As you might expect, Republicans think Bush was better and Democrats think Obama is better. So that doesn’t really tell us much.

The real problem for the White House would be Independents, who think Obama is either the same or worse than Bush was as president. That must be a tough one for liberals to swallow.