President Barack Obama has one of the worst approval ratings of any president in modern political history, Paul Bedard notes in his Washington Whispers blog in US News.
Obama’s 43 percent rating in Gallup’s daily presidential job approval index today is far below Democrat Jimmy Carter’s 51 percent at the same point in his presidency. Carter has been considered one of the 20th century’s worst presidents, according to the index.
Political experts consider the ratings a crystal ball with the potential for predicting a president’s chances for re-election.
Historically, it has been difficult for incumbents to remain in office if their approval ratings are below 47 percent. At this same stage of Dwight Eisenhower’s term, the popular Republican president had an approval rating of 78 percent.
Bedard chronicles the approval ratings of other presidents at this point in their presidencies:
Harry S. Truman – 54 percent
Lyndon B. Johnson – 44 percent
Richard M. Nixon – 50 percent
Ronald Reagan – 54 percent
George H.W. Bush – 52 percent
Bill Clinton – 51 percent
George W. Bush – 55 percent.
“What’s more,” Bedard writes, “Gallup finds that Obama’s overall job approval rating so far has averaged 49 percent. Only three former presidents have had a worse average rating at this stage: Carter, [Gerald] Ford, and Harry S. Truman. Only Truman won re-election in an anti-Congress campaign that Obama’s team is using as a model.”
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blame republicans
You see? I told you, Jimmy Jimmy wasn’t so bad after all.
Do we have to listen to this for the next five years.
#1, that’s exactly what they’re doing.
George W. Bush – 55 percent
For most of the 2nd term his ratings were much
lower(20’s-30’s)-check it out.
G.W. Bush’s ratings were in the 20’s-30’s for most of his 2nd term.
I hope it drops to 0
The sad and scary thing is that the collective intelligence of the American voting public is dropping in kind.