One Chart Sums Up Obama's Brutal Year In Office

Gallup has a retrospective look Friday at President Barack Obama's approval ratings through 2013 - and the picture is not pretty.

From controversies involving the IRS and National Security Agency early in the year to hiccups later in the year with his signature legislative achievement, the Affordable Care Act, Obama endured a rough start to the second term of his presidency.

Gallup provides a month-by-month look at Obama's approval ratings in 2013. In January, amid a boost after his re-election and what was seen as a victory in the fiscal cliff negotiations, his approval rating stood at 52%. By the end of the year, as Obamacare struggled, it was down to 41%.

Here's the chart:

Gallup notes that there's both a historical precedent for recovery and further decline after years of decline. The most recent historical precedent is former President George W. Bush, who saw a big decline in his fifth year in office amid the increasingly unpopular Iraq War. His approval ratings never got back to a positive level.