President Barack Obama’s popularity has sunk to a new low, with an approval rating of under 40 percent, according to the latest Gallup poll.

More than half of Americans – 54 percent – disapprove of the president’s performance, while only 39 percent are satisfied, the survey reported on Sunday.

The poll was taken during one of the most tumultuous weeks in the history of stock market trading as investors fear a “double-dip” recession, meaning another recession only three years after the financial crisis of three years ago.

President Obama clearly is bothered by his dismal ratings as his foreign policy, particularly concerning the Palestinian Authority, Syria and Iran, come under heavy fire not only from Republicans but also from his own Democratic party.

"We've still got a long way to go to get to where we need to be. We didn't get into this mess overnight, and it's going to take time to get out of it," President Obama said as he fights the possible embarrassment of becoming a one-term president.

The 2012 presidential campaign is a summer away, but President Obama already is barnstorming the United States this week, headed for the Midwest. The Republicans and its ultra-conservative Tea Party faction are being welcomed in the Bible Belt for their plain talk policies against excessive foreign aid while the government deficit bloats.