GDP figures out this morning were stronger than expected. The Australian economy grew by 1.2% in the June quarter, real gross domestic income grew 6.5% in the 2010-11 financial year — the largest growth since 1987-88.

Nice maths for Treasurer Wayne Swan. If only President Obama could boast a better set of figures. Obama will take the nation through the numbers of his jobs package plan Thursday night (US time) in his address to Congress.

In the meantime, the numbers are in on his latest approval rating, and it’s the worst of his presidency.

A new ABC News/Washington Post poll shows that 53% of Americans now disapprove of the job Barack Obama is doing.

Six in 10 people think he’s doing a bad job on the economy.

And 78% of political independents think the country is on the wrong track.

Maybe they caught sight of these gobsmacking numbers from The New York Times published earlier in the week:

Click on image for the full rundown c/o The New York Times

This is going to have to be some package, not to lift the President’s numbers, but to lift an ever-growing proportion of Americans from the brink of poverty.