Roundtable: New poll puts Obama at the worst approval rating of his presidency

(CNN) - The White House is not exactly ending the year on a high note.

A new poll from The Washington Post/ABC News puts President Barack Obama at the worst public approval rating of his presidency: 43%.

What a difference a year makes. Last December, in the weeks before his second inaugural, the same poll had Obama at 54%. That is an 11-point slide.

But the biggest hit may be on the public's perception of how capable the President is of helping the middle class - on the question of who could do a better job for the middle class, just 46% say Obama. While that is still a bit more than the Republican Party, last year Obama had a 26-point advantage on this question.

Our political panel with former governor of Minnesota Tim Pawlenty, former governor of Arkansas and chair of the It's My Business Coalition Blanche Lincoln, and CNN political commentator and The New Yorker correspondent Ryan Lizza discuss.