It’s a matter of prospective.

On the one hand, a second poll this week found the President’s approval rating hovering around the forty percent mark in Pennsylvania.

On the other hand, his numbers have been relatively stable and are better than his predecessor’s.

The latest Franklin & Marshall poll shows Pres. Obama’s approval rating at 38% in the Keystone State, one point higher than in June.

Overall, 12% believe the President is doing an “excellent job”, 26% think he’s doing a “good job”, 16% rated his performance as “only a fair job” while 45% said Pres. Obama is doing a “poor job”.

The 38/61 split is a marginal improvement from the 37/63 split in June.

Additionally, the 44th President is on an upward trajectory and is in a better place at this moment than the 43rd President was.

Broken down by demographic, President Obama received a positive job rating from the following groups: Extremely liberals (84/16); slightly liberals (74/26); Philadelphians (67/33); nonwhites (66/33); Democrats (63/37); religiously unaffiliated (55/44); single/never married (55/45); and those 35 years old and younger (52/48).

Finally, the President’s favorability rating is at 42% (23% strongly, 19% somewhat) with his unfavorable rating at 52% (44% strongly, 8% somewhat).

This Franklin & Marshall Poll surveyed 605 registered Pennsylvania voters and was conducted from August 17th to August 24th. The margin of error is +/- 3.9%.