Say it ain't so, Joe.

Vice President Joe Biden's favorable rating has fallen to 42 percent in a new Gallup poll, down from a high of 59 percent just after last year's election. Biden's unfavorable rating in the new poll is 40 percent, up from 29 percent last November. (Eighteen percent of those surveyed say they have no opinion of Biden.)

Biden's average favorable rating during his time in office so far is 45 percent -- well below the average 65 percent favorable rating for Vice President Dick Cheney during Cheney's first year in office. Vice President Al Gore's favorable rating during his first year, 55 percent, was also higher than Biden's. (Gallup did not measure vice presidential popularity before Gore.)

Biden's rating has fallen most dramatically among independents. Last November, 55 percent of them had a favorable impression of Biden. Now, it's 32 percent. Biden's favorable rating among Democrats is 73 percent, down from 88 percent last December, and among Republicans it is 18 percent, down from 33 percent last year.

Finally, there is a greater gap between Biden's favorable rating and President Obama's than there was between Cheney and President George W. Bush and Gore and President Bill Clinton. Biden's 45 percent average favorable rating this year is well below Obama's average of 63 percent. Cheney's 65 percent average was near Bush's average of 69 percent, and Gore's 55 percent rating was close to Clinton's average of 57 percent.

Well, isn't that special. And this is without conservatives smearing Biden as the liberals did Cheney from the time he took the oath. After all, it is impossible to smear someone who demonstrates by his own statements that he is a clueless git.

Exit question for commenters: What title for a book on Biden gaffes - just during his time in office - can you come up with?

My entry: "Born to Ignorance: The Joe Biden Story"

Hat Tip: Ed Lasky