Obama approval numbers keep pace with Jimmy Carter

The Pew Research Center has an exhaustive analysis of Barack Obama's job approval numbers as he approaches 100 days in office.

Obama's 63 percent approval rate matches that of another Democratic president, Jimmy Carter, who also registered a 63 percent approval rate at the same period of his presidency. And we all know how well Carter's presidency fared, don't we?

Ronald Reagan's job approval numbers reached 67 percent after 100 days in office in 1981, according to Pew.

From the Pew survey:

Obama's job approval stands at 63%, while 26% disapprove of the way he is handling his job as president. His approval rating is up slightly from March (59%). Opinions about Obama's performance remain highly partisan. Fully 93% of Democrats approve of the way Obama is handling his job as president, compared with just 30% of Republicans. Independents' opinions fall in between, with 58% expressing positive views of his performance and 27% negative opinions.

The numbers that jump out are the approval ratings among Democrats and Republicans. There really are two Americas.

More from Pew:

Pew Research previously found a greater partisan gap in Obama's early job approval ratings than in the ratings of past presidents. That continues to be the case. Obama's approval rating among Republicans (30%) is about the same as Bill Clinton's at a comparable point in his first year (25%), but Democratic approval -- particularly strong approval -- is much higher than it was for Clinton. Fully 79% of Democrats very strongly approve of Obama's job performance; only about half as many Democrats (39%) expressed very strong approval for Clinton at this stage in 1993. Obama's highly positive ratings from members of his own party also surpass Bush's 71% very strong approval among Republicans in April 2001.

For more numbers and comparisons with previous presidents, click here.