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The most recent High Point University poll tries to draws an interesting historical parallel between President Barack Obama and former President Jimmy Carter, both Democrats. Carter was a one-term president who was defeated by Ronald Reagan during sour economic times. (Press release | Summary memo)

The HPU poll asked the same question that the UNC Carolina Poll in the fall of 1979: on the whole, do you think the president has been doing a good job.

Carter was three percentage points higher than Obama is today, with 47 percent giving him a “good job” compared to the current president's 44 percent. Both presidents were rated as doing a “poor job” by 46 percent of respondents.

Obama also trails the benchmarks that Reagan set in 1983 as he faced the beginning of this re-election campaign.

Both Carter and Reagan won North Carolina on their way to the White House and assistant poll director Sadie Leder says the comparisons put Obama’s race in historical perspective.

“We are still a long way out from Election Day and a lot may happen between now and then, but these results may be suggestive of the challenges ahead for President Obama,” she said.