No American president has been reelected when unemployment has been higher than 7.2 percent in more than 50 years. It's a refrain that's been thrown around in the pages of The New York Times and in nearly every conversation when Barack Obama's chances for reelection are discussed, both inside the Beltway and beyond.
With Election Day more than 15 months away, Barack Obama has many reasons, including the capture of Osama bin Laden, to be confident in his chances for winning a second term. But any early prognostication in Obama's favor must be balanced by a consideration of the challenges he faces on the economic front. In the more than two years he has been in office, Obama has not presided over an unemployment figure below 8 percent, apart from during the month he took office. The most recent report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, for the month of June, even saw the rate raise by 0.1 percent from the month before, leaving the current national tally at 9.2 percent.
http://jobs.aol.com/articles/2011/07/15/can-a-president-be-reelected-with-9-unemployment
