Chuck Todd does not have a good prognosis for President Obama in 2014.
The panel on Wednesday's "Morning Joe" discussed a new poll on disapproval ratings ahead of the midterm elections. Forty-eight percent of the respondents said they would be less likely to vote for a candidate who supports Obama, while just 26 percent said that they would be more likely to vote for an Obama supporter. Meanwhile, Obama's approval rating fell to 41 percent, down from 43 percent in January.
"Right now, the ingredients are all there for the Republicans to have the year that they're looking for, which is win enough Senate seats to get control," Todd said. "The question is whether the president is gonna stagnate? Can he recover?"
He ticked off a number of possible explanations for the poll's results, and suggested that Obama is "taking more of the hit" than anyone else for what voters view as the country's overall "dysfunction."
"Is there anything he can do in the next six months that just moves his approval rating to 45 percent?" Todd asked, adding that that might be the magical number Obama needs in order to save the Senate. "I don't know how it is because It feels like for him, that it's kind of baked in for a while."