I suspect that you're just seeing what you want to see. Most voters do not actively follow the day-to-day news of the campaign. For example, I have no idea who Lena Durham is or what ad you're talking about, so I highly doubt that the average voter does either. We are now at the point in the campaign where there needs to be a major news event to really change voters' minds, and IMO nothing on your list cuts it. Sure, there are some news stories...but nothing any more substantial than the typical week. We didn't have any major fiscal meltdowns, any major foreign policy crisis, any political bombshells, etc.
It's been a decidedly average campaign week. So when one polling firm reports a major change like this, I would just chalk it up to statistical noise. If lots of other polling firms start to show a major drop in Obama's approval, then that will be a different story. But until then, color me skeptical.
LMFAO... again... I have to repeat what I said earlier, since you apparently didn't listen...
There have been several major news stories... including;
1) the post-debate reactions
The Gallup 3-day tracking poll for Oct23 would include 21, 22, and 23... only the 23rd would have had results from people who had watched the debate on the evening of the 22nd... and it still would've taken a couple days for it to really have sunk in for all voters... So, it's safe to say, the polls starting on the 23rd, would start changing based on what was seen...
2) several different reports of warnings to the administration of the attacks in Bengazi,
This isn't me following the news, these are the lead news stories for many agencies, in a steady stream of bad news for the president, for his handling of the Bengazi attacks...
This very week stories came out that
- there were requests for additional security that were turned down by the state department
- there were requests for assistance with an attack that was underway that were turned down by the CIA
- that one of the men killed in the attack was disobeying orders leaving his post to assist those under attack, and was being ordered not to assist them
- that they had ariel pictures of the attack as it was going on, and still refused to send additional security
- that Gen Petraeus insists no one at the CIA turned down assistance, if there was such a call it would've come from the president
- people found out that militants have taken over northern Mali... in a sign that the continued violence is spreading...
Petraeus Throws Obama Under the Bus | The Weekly Standard
President Obama Begs Off Answering Whether Americans in Benghazi Were Denied Requests for Help - ABC News
Incompetence in Benghazi - BostonHerald.com
Report: U.S. Officials Denied Request for Military Back-Up During Benghazi Attack, Ordered Stand Down - Reason 24/7 : Reason.com
3) several desperate ad's and appearances by Obama from the "BSer" comment to the Lena Durham ad, which have shown this president to be childish and petty, not presidential,
The stories I spoke of are being reported across numerous news agencies... my girlfriend learned about a lot of them just from riding the elevator at her work...
Rolling Stone released an interview with the president which he called Romney a "BSer"... and saying they should lower the voting age so kids could vote...
The Obama campaign released an ad with Lena Dunham comparing voting for the first time to having sex for the first time, which has drawn the ire of many
There was also the posting of a picture of Mitt Romney on a stool wearing a dunce cap on the president's website...
It's desperate and petty times when the sitting president has to resort to childish tactics as these... most people have been put off by them... and a continued classlessness that this president and the vice president are displaying...
In fact, it's one of the things that seems to have backfired on them in the debates... Biden's rude hysterics were seen as unpresidential, and Obama's condescending childish battleship comments were seen as that, and the bayonet comment saw a reaction from manufacturers of them... it may have fired up his base a little, but it has been losing the middle ground voters...
Romney Hits the 50 Percent Mark, With a Clear Edge on the Economy - ABC News
4) numerous poor Q3 economic reports of losses in profit, if not outright losses, which have spurred a huge drop in stock markets,
I know you said there was no fiscal meltdowns, but the facts don't bear that out... there was quite a fiscal meltdown this week, with the Dow dropping over 500 points... based off of numerous poor Q3 earnings reports from companies that were lower than expected, reflect a loss in profits, or were reports of outright losses...
U.S. stocks finish flat; Dow drops 250 pts for week - NASDAQ.com
News Summary: Stocks stabilize, and Dow drops 25 - Yahoo! Finance
This is also following a week prior, where it also dropped 250 pts at the end of the week based on poor reports from several large companies...
Dow drops 200 on weak reports from Microsoft, G.E., McDonald’s Dow drops 200 on weak earnings reports - Business - The Boston Globe
"Financial analysts expect corporate earnings for July through September to be lower than the same period a year ago,
which would be the first yearly decline in three years."
So the DOW has dropped 500pts in little over a week, based off of dismal Q3 reports...
(makes one wonder how the unemployment numbers were reported as a good sign of the economy... when everything else for Q3 is trending downward...)
and
5) news about how many trips and how much effort this president is doing to rush around to different states, in his most active effort of the entire four years, which shows where his real priority is, his own hide.
The president, fresh off his performances on Lettermen, the View, etc. then headed out west for Leno... releasing a tough schedule of flights across the country and back... (On Air Force One, on taxpayer dollars, campaigning, not doing anything) He complained about all the states he had to visit, and all the events he was doing.... The White House even put out a press release stating that he had done 200 something interviews this year, which was more than any president... which begs the questions of why is he doing so many interviews? who is being president while he's doing these celeb publicity tour events?
Then you want to talk about whether this is an outlier or not... the trouble is Gallup was the outlier on this, in suggesting people approved of the president's job by over 50% to begin with, when many others have already had it below 50%...
RealClearPolitics - Election Other - President Obama Job Approval
Romney Hits the 50 Percent Mark, With a Clear Edge on the Economy - ABC News