Two new polls this morning augur ill for President Barack Obama and his fellow Democrats who control Congress.

The worst — from Gallup — finds that for the first time since Obama took the oath, his support among independents, a key voter segment in his decisive 2008 coalition election win, has fallen below 40%. The new tracking finds that Obama’s support among all voter segments has declined in the past year, but nowhere more than among independents.

Only 38% now support him, an 18-point drop from 52 weeks ago, when polls first began showing independents peeling off as Obama relentlessly pushed his healthcare plan, ignoring polls saying jobs and the economy were uppermost on voters’ minds