One year after Barack Obama's election, a new AP/GfK poll (1,006 adults, Nov 5-9, +/- 3.1%) finds that the optimism for the new president has given way to increasing wariness over the economy and Afghanistan.

Just 38 percent of Americans think the country is heading in the right direction -- the lowest number are the worst since Obama took office -- while 56 percent say it's on the wrong track. His overall job approval rating is still in positive territory at 54 percent, though he's seeing slippage on the economy (46 percent), unemployment (44 percent), Iraq (46 percent) and Afghanistan (42 percent). More from AP:

Public attitudes like that are troubling for a president trying to accomplish an ambitious agenda at home while fighting wars abroad, as well as for a Democratic Party heading into a critical election year. It will look to stave off losses a new president typically experiences in his first midterms.

Along those lines, Gallup's new data has Republicans taking a 4-point advantage in the generic Congressional ballot for the first time this year, buoyed by a significant uptick in support among independent voters in just one month. More:

Since Gallup regularly began using the generic ballot to measure registered voters' preferences for the House of Representatives in 1950, it has been rare for Republicans to have an advantage over Democrats. This is likely because more Americans usually identify as Democrats than as Republicans, but Republicans can offset this typical Democratic advantage in preferences with greater turnout on Election Day. Most of the prior Republican registered-voter leads on the generic ballot in Gallup polling occurred in 1994 and 2002, two strong years for the GOP.

Gallup also puts Obama's approval rating at 54 percent. He's at 52 percent in the RCP Average for Presidential Job Approval.