Four in 10 Americans strongly disapprove of how Obama is handling the job of president in the new Washington Post-ABC News poll, the highest that number has risen during his time in office and a sign of the hardening opposition to him as he seeks a second term

Forty-three percent of independents — a group that Obama spent the better part of 2010 courting — strongly disapprove of the job he is doing. Forty-seven percent of people 65 years of age and older — reliable voters in any election — strongly disapprove of how he is doing his job. Strong opposition to Obama has grown markedly since the start of 2011. All of those numbers point to a simple fact: The “anyone but Obama” crowd is getting larger and more strident in its opinions, while Obama’s base is growing less and less strongly supportive of how he is doing his job.