Cowlin said numbers for his site were similar during the campaign and period up to the inauguration. “During the 2008 elections it was predominately all pro-Obama merchandise,” he said.

But since then, more and more of the items being created by users of the sites carry a negative or satirical message about the president and his policies.

“Today, the number of products pro versus anti has flattened,” Karns said. “The space between those two has gotten much more narrow. It’s probably 60-40 against Obama. We’ve seen several thousand anti-Obama products created in just the past two weeks.”

Cowlin said there are 3.5 million pro-Obama products on Café Press, compared to just over a million anti-Obama products. But in recent weeks, the anti-Obama products have been climbing.

“What’s really interesting is the trend is sort of what we expected to see,” Cowlin said. “As you’re going through the election process…it’s natural that you would see a higher number of pro sales.” But now, “What happens is the opposition, they have a new mission.”

Supporters of the president can take comfort that, at least in the T-shirt sales wars, he’s still ahead, though only slightly.

“In terms of products actually being ordered, the pro-Obama stuff still has a slight edge,” Karns said. “But it’s interesting that that balance has shifted so dramatically.”

At Café Press, pro-Obama merchandise is still about 55 to 60 percent of Obama-related sales, while anti-Obama merchandise sales are in the mid-40 percent range.

It’s hard to tell just what the bottom line of the anti-Obama industry will add up to. But let’s just call it a tidy sum. Karns says pro and anti paraphernalia together sold on his site runs into the millions of dollars.

Cowlin says that, pro or con, “Obama is definitely the biggest T-shirt president we’ve seen. He’s selling on par with entertainment merchandise. It certainly says something about his popularity. Right now, he’s probably still our No. 1 subject.”