Obama levels out

For the first time since April Barack Obama's approval rating in North Carolina hasn't dropped compared to the previous month.

45% of voters in the state give him good marks for the job he's doing while 49% disapprove. Those figures are pretty much consistent with our August poll, which showed it at 46/49, and our September poll, which found him at 45/51.

78% of Democrats, 41% of independents, and just 10% of Republicans approve of Obama. While he's maintained a strong 90% rating with African Americans, only 33% of whites express support for his work. 35% is generally viewed as the bare minimum threshold Obama can attain with white voters and still hope to repeat his surprising victory in the state from last year.

Obama's approval with senior citizens is only 34%, reflecting a national trend of Democrats having trouble with that demographic. That could spell difficulty for 2010 as older voters tend to make up a larger portion of the electorate in non-Presidential years.

Opposition to Obama's plans for health care is largely unchanged over the last few months as well. Only 38% of voters say support the President on the issue while 53% are against him.

62% of the state thinks that Obama is a liberal, while 32% think he is a moderate, and 7% a conservative.

North Carolina is one of the few states where Obama's standing has declined enough that he probably wouldn't win it again if the election was held today. Of course his margin for error was smaller here than anywhere else and he has three years to get his standing back up to where it was earlier in 2009.

Full results here