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Approval ratings are tricky to interpret (lies, damned lies, and statistics).
One, it depends on who's asking the question. Various polls use different questions, different wordings, different methodologies, have different samples (registered voters vs. adults nationwide), etc.
Two, "presidential approval" usually falls into two categories: your approval of the president as a person, and the approval of the president's job performance. I think, regardless of the absolute numbers, it's pretty clear that the president's JOB approval ratings are falling, although they seem to be holding steady somewhere on average in the mid-50s over the past few weeks (pollingreport.com moved this info - can anybody find a similar poll tracking site with this info?). His personal approval ratings have traditionally been slightly higher than his job approval ratings.
Three, it's not just his approval ratings that are important, but also his DISapproval ratings, which have been climbing steadily. You have fewer and fewer people who are "uncommitted," and more of them are falling into the "disapprove" category than the approve category.
Four, as someone pointed out, absolute numbers are less important than trends, and he seems to be trending down or holding steady, though things can change in a matter of weeks depending on circumstances.
Five, right now, regardless of approval ratings, Gallup's predicting an even race in 2004 with an as-yet-unnamed democrat. Doesn't matter if you approve or not if you don't go vote.
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"If ten million people believe a foolish thing, it is still a foolish thing."
- Anatole France
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