From Telegraph.co.uk:

The president is understood to have told senior Democrats during a private meeting at the White House that they “may not want me” to campaign in their areas during the next three months.

For the past two elections, he has been the Democrat’s main asset with other candidates desperate for him to campaign in their areas.

However, his approval ratings are now below 50 per cent and a growing number of Americans are dissatisfied with his handling of the economy.

The Republican party – expected to win a majority in the US Congress this year – are attempting to turn the mid-term election in to a referendum on Mr Obama.

Over the weekend, Mr Obama addressed his declining popularity in an interview, saying that his fortunes would not improve until unemployment began to fall. He said that an assessment of his success was currently “incomplete”.

Mr Obama is currently holding a series of private meetings and lunches with Democrats at the White House, following criticism that he is detached from other American politicians.

During one lunch last week, he is reported to have acknowledged for the first time that his presence may not be helpful to Democrats fighting to retain seats in areas being aggressively targeted by the Republicans.

“You may not even want me to come to your district,” Mr Obama is said to have conceded.

Over the weekend, it also emerged that for the first time in his six-year national political career, Mr Obama is being told by White House aides that there are certain areas of the country where he is being advised not to visit because his approval rating and the local political environment is too hostile. The locations of the areas have not been disclosed.

It is understood that the president will instead focus his attentions on raising money for the Democrat campaign. Over the next few weeks he will travel across America to high-profile fundraising events in Los Angeles, Chicago, Dallas and Seattle.

Last week, Mr Obama became the first sitting president to appear on a daytime chat show in an attempt to reach out to so-called “soccer moms” in middle America. However, it is now this group of the electorate who the president will apparently be kept from meeting face-to-face.

In another interview over the weekend, Mr Obama said he believed that his administration had not been given the credit it deserved.

“But here’s the reason: we’ve gone through the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression,” he said. “No other depression comes close. When people have gone through that much trauma, people have every right to be scared, to be angry, to be frustrated. And I don’t expect the American people to be satisfied when we’re only half of the way back.” “ One of the things when you’re President is, folks are gonna, you know, direct attention – when things aren’t going right for them – you.”

Democrats currently fear they will lose 60 seats in the House of Representatives this year. They may also lose their majority in the Senate.

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