The latest readings from the Washington Post poll aren’t nearly as dramatic as that instance — but there is a milder version of this same phenomenon working in the opposite direction. In other words, Mr. Obama’s approval rating in the new Washington Post poll is a now bit lower than you’d expect based on where voters rate him on the economy.

Based on the historical relationship between Mr. Obama’a overall and economic approval ratings in the poll, you’d predict that his overall approval rating would be 53 or 54 percent given an economic approval rating of 48 percent. Instead, it’s 51 percent. So it may be that the talk surrounding Benghazi, the I.R.S. and the Justice Department has negatively affected Mr. Obama’s approval rating by two or three percentage points, but that the economy has lifted his numbers by about the same amount.