As he heads into an August recess that could be a make-or-break moment for his health care makeover, Barack Obama’s job approval ratings continue to slip, little by little. The newest poll, done by the Democratic firm Greenberg Quinlan Rosner for National Public Radio, has Obama’s job approval rating at 53 percent, with 42 percent disapproval.  In the RealClearPolitics average of polls, Obama is at 54.0 approval, 41.1 disapproval.  (As it happens, his disapproval in the RCP average topped 40 percent for the first time last Wednesday, the day of his health care/Gatesgate news conference.)

Just look at the last ten polls listed in the RCP average.  If you take out the two extremes, the most recent ABC/Washington Post poll, which had Obama at 59 percent approval, and the Rasmussen, which had him at 49 percent, this is the trend in Obama’s job approval rating in the last three weeks: