Approval numbers hit all-time low-Obama

President Obama's approval rating hit an all-time low Friday in the Gallup Poll's rolling average of his favorability numbers.

Forty percent of Americans said they approve of the way Obama his handling his job, eclipsing the previous low of 41 percent that the president had hit twice before during his administration.

Gallup, which keeps track of Obama's daily, rolling approval rating, found that Obama's job performance number had ticked downward in the last few days of polling. Obama's approval rating marks a tumble from his most recent high, a 50 percent approval rating on June 7.

The poor rating comes amidst an increasingly chaotic debate over raising the debt ceiling, as the deadline to raise it or risk the government defaulting on its debts looms.Just 41 percent of the public said they approved of the way Obama was handling the debt-ceiling negotiations, while 52 percent disapproved, according to another Gallup poll released Thursday. Nonetheless, Obama still polls better than congressional leadership. Speaker of the House John Boehner and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid both received even lower approval rates.

That's a discouraging number for Obama, and comes amid the summer doldrums that include his protracted fight with Congress over how and whether to increase the nation's debt limit. A Pew poll this week found Obama leading a generic Republican candidate by one point, 41-40 percent, among registered voters.