My thought is that some of Obama’s slide could possibly be due to the Russian saber-rattling, and people actually waking up and realizing it’s still dangerous out there, and he’s not the right man for anything dangerous. Might be too much to hope for, but it does happen. i.e. Jimmy Carter II is not the man you want to face down the new Russians.
There might be some truth to it, seeing that the MSM dropped the question like a hot potato.