WAPO/ABC NEWS POLL: High gas prices cut into driving habits — and Obama’s approval rating. “Obama, like previous presidents in times of high oil prices, is taking a hit. Only 39 percent of those who call gas prices a ‘serious financial hardship’ approve of the way he is doing his job, and 33 percent of them say he’s doing a good job on the economy.”

UPDATE: Skepticism:

When did everyone decide that it’s high gas prices that are hurting Obama? Seems crazy to me. He’s losing two out of three wars, the economy is flagging, and his signature domestic achievement is unpopular. So it must be the gas! … P.S.: It’s not surprising that in polls people who say they “are feeling serious hardship as a result of gas prices” disproportionately say they “will not vote for Obama in 2012.” Or, rather, it’s not surprising that people who are so economically pressured that they are feeling serious hardship as a result of gas prices say they will not vote for Obama. That doesn’t mean the problem is gas prices. The problem might be the economic pressure. If employment and wages were growing rapidly, would high gas prices even be a factor? … P.S.: Also, if gas prices are seen as a harbinger of a coming burst of general inflation, that’s a different story.

Yes, there are so many reasons to be unhappy with Obama that it’s a mistake to focus too much on just one. And notice, by the way, that the one war he’s not losing is the war he ran against. Just sayin’ . . . .