Pew released a poll last week showing the partisan gap in President Obama's approval numbers is the largest in modern history. Like many recent surveys, Pew finds Obama's overall approval rating at 59 percent. But unpacking those numbers demonstrates the largest variability among self-identified partisans in the modern era.

Pew writes:

For all of his hopes about bipartisanship, Barack Obama has the most polarized early job approval ratings of any president in the past four decades. The 61-point partisan gap in opinions about Obama's job performance is the result of a combination of high Democratic ratings for the president -- 88% job approval among Democrats -- and relatively low approval ratings among Republicans (27%).

Looking at presidential "approval" among self-identified partisans over time reveals growing polarization over the past two decades. For example, in the mid-1970s, 56% of self-identified Republicans approved of Jimmy Carter's presidency at this point in his term. Similarly, 55% of Democrats approved of Richard Nixon in mid-March of his first term. Fast forward to Reagan and Bush 41, and we see Democratic approval sank to 41%. Over last 20 years support has declined even more. Only 26% of Republicans supported Bill Clinton in March of 1993, while 36% of Democrats approved of George W. Bush. President Obama's approval levels are only 27% among self-identified Republicans.
At the same time, presidents' support among their own partisans has edged up - but not that dramatically. Average presidential approval for U.S. presidents from Nixon to Clinton was about 80% among their own self-identified partisans. By contrast, George W .Bush's approval among Republicans in March of his first term was 87%, while Barack Obama's standing with Democrats is at 88% according to Pew.

Pew concludes:

The growing partisan divide in presidential approval ratings is part of a long-term trend. Going back in time, partisanship was far less evident in the early job approval ratings for both Jimmy Carter and Richard Nixon. In fact, a majority of Republicans (56%) approved of Carter's job performance in late March 1977, and a majority of Democrats (55%) approved of Nixon's performance at a comparable point in his first term.

Read the full report here.