Updated 12/30/11 - Click here
Above: Gallup approval ratings for presidents Obama, Clinton, and Reagan (dark green, light green, and yellow lines, respectively) for their first 1000 days in office.
Green bands indicate periods during which all three were polling within a five points of each other.
Above: Gallup approval ratings for presidents Clinton and Reagan during the remainder of their initial terms.
By 1000 days in, the anti-incumbent field has become locked in and we begin cementing our collective judgment as to whether we prefer the current president to any of his potential replacements (eg: president Obama vs generic Republican / president Obama vs actual Republican). The way president Obama's approval ratings trend from here on out will be an indicator as to whether he has won this best-man-for-the-job contest.
While well run campaigns inevitably improve perceptions, it is simply bad form for a president to begin overtly campaigning too soon before an election; 1000 days seems to be the starting gun.
Update II: 12/30/11: Newer Article
