Turns out voters were not simply satisfied to spank the Democratic president and his party in the Nov. 2 midterm elections with historic losses in the House of Representatives.

Obama’s job approval rating as calculated by the latest Zogby Poll has now dropped to 39%, a new low for his 22-month presidency that began with so much hope, excitement and poll numbers up around 70. As recently as Sept. 20, his job approval was 49%.

A whopping 60% now disapprove of Barack Obama’s job, up from 51% disapproval on Sept. 20.

Obama now trails in hypothetical 2012 matchups against Republicans Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich and the next Bush, Jeb.

Most embarrassing of all for the 44th president, he’s slipped into a statistical tie with none other than Sarah Palin, the former Alaska governor shown by other polls to be seen as unqualified for the presidency. So it appears many have now decided, on second thought, Obama is too.

Obama began losing the support of independents in mid-2009 when he focused on his beloved healthcare scheme while voters were of the opinion that the economy was Job One. Only 39% of independents approve of Obama’s performance. Only six percent of Republicans do, not surprisingly. But younger voters, also crucial in the ex-state senator’s convincing defeat of John McCain, now approve by only 42%.

Nearly seven-in-ten likely voters (69%) say the country is on the wrong track, not the best sign for incumbents.

Most ominous for the president, Zogby notes, is that he’s now losing support among his own Democratic party. Obama’s approval faded from 78% down to 72% in just one week.

Obama, John Zogby writes, “is failing to please more than one-fourth of his own party’s voters. This is a perilous position for the President.”

Former governor Romney fares the best against Obama (44-38%), then comes Gingrich (43%-39%), then another former governor, Jeb Bush (40%-38%), who says he is not running. Palin ties (40%-41%). Obama does, however, blow away developer Donald Trump (39%-29%) and New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg (32%-13%), neither of which were state senators.

(Malcolm is the Top of the Ticket blogger at latimes.com/ticket  )