We asked two political scientists for their thoughts on presidential support ratings: Larry Sabato of the University of Virginia and Stephen Farnsworth of the University of Mary Washington. They both said the high level of support by Democrats and the low level by Republicans — who have backed Obama only 46 percent of the time since 2009 — speaks to the partisanship in the Senate.

Both professors said that the rating, which tracks a relatively small number of overall votes, paints an unsophisticated picture of any congressman’s total record, including Warner’s.

Farnsworth noted that Obama did not take a position on the vast majority of bills that have come before the Senate.

“To imagine that Warner votes like a politburo member for the president would be misleading,” he said.

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