Bush Is More Unpopular Than Nixon In Final Days
President Bush has a 76% approval rating and is more unpopular than Nixon during Watergate. I'm surprised that his unpopularity has reached its peak now when his term will be over in the next two months. Don't Presidents usually get a little bit of a break when they are at the end of their terms? He is a lame duck and can't really do anything anymore. Of course, probably part of the reason why his disapproval rating is up to 76% is probably because of the bank bailout for the financial crisis. There are a lot of conservatives that are unhappy with that. Of course, Barack Obama voted for Bush's bailout, so if he was President, he probably would have done the same thing.
Its interesting looking at Presidents unpopularity numbers to see when they had their highest disapproval ratings and how high their disapproval ratings were.
Bush is at a record high of 76%. It may be hard for anyone to be as unpopular as he is. It will take hard work to be that unpopular. Truman was actually more unpopular than Nixon during Watergate as he had a 67% disapproval rating, while Nixon had a 66% disapproval rating. Just imagine, in 1952, Eisenhower would've probably ran TV ads saying that the Democrat running for President voted with Truman 90% of the time, and it probably would have been as effective. Most of the other modern Presidents (Clinton, Reagan, Carter, LBJ) had their highest disapproval ratings in the 50's. I am surprised that Ford's highest disapproval number was 46%. It makes you wonder why he wasn't re-elected compared to some of these other Presidents. Maybe no one really liked or disliked him. He never really pushed the envelope and he never really brought out passion or emotion in anyone. Eisenhower's highest disapproval number was 36% and JFK's highest disapproval number was only 30%. Either the 1950's and early 1960's were a 'golden age' or people just did not want to disapprove of their Presidents. Of course, Eisenhower was a great WWII General, so maybe people would feel uncomfortable disapproving of his Presidential actions, while JFK was charismatic and could probably sell a freezer to an Eskimo.
It will be interesting to see what Barack Obama does. He will probably go in with high popularity ratings and people will probably cut him a lot of slack because of the situation that he is coming into. Of course, he will be expected to start producing positive results. I think Dick Morris, who worked with President Clinton, is saying that if there was ever an election to lose, that it would be this one. He doesn't think it is humanly possible to quickly get things back to the way that we have been used to them being and that the person who won this election will lose in 2012. I think that people are going to give the next President a break since he is going into office with the worst economic situation since possibly the Great Depression. FDR got an 8 year long break before the economy finally recovered. Even if there is only minor improvment during Obama's first 4 years, I think he will get credit for it and that people will give him the benefit of the doubt if there are setbacks. It helps that he has most of the media except Fox News behind him, so he will get favorable reporting no matter what he does. The only thing he has to avoid doing is overreaching. If he tries to overreach by pursuing a program that most people oppose or he does something that people see as an abuse of power or an infringment of peoples' rights, then he may lose popularity. I think that it is silly to start comparing Obama to Lincoln and FDR. He hasn't even been sworn in yet. SO far, the only comparison to FDR one can legitimately give is on his support of an active government and the fact that he is coming into power during a financial crisis.
Bush is less popular than Nixon in final days
Politico Staff Politico Staff
Mon Nov 10, 1:11 pm ET
With 71 days left in office, President Bush is less popular than President Nixon was at the time of his resignation, according to data released Monday by CNN and Opinion Research Corporation.
The new poll, taken Thursday through Sunday, showed an approval rating of 24 percent and a disapproval rating of 76 percent.
CNN released a chart showing presidential "disapproval" ratings in CNN or Gallup polls for each president dating back to Harry Truman. This list shows the percentage of Americans who disapproved of the way each president was handling his job.
% Disapprove - Date
G.W. Bush: 76% - Nov. 2008
Clinton: 54% - Sept. 1994
G.H.W. Bush: 60% - July 1992
Reagan: 56% - Jan. 1983
Carter: 59% - June 1979
Ford: 46% - April, Nov., Dec. 1975
Nixon: 66% - Aug. 1974
Johnson: 52% - March, Aug. 1968
Kennedy: 30% - Nov. 1963
Eisenhower: 36% - March 1958
Truman: 67% - Jan. 1952
Its interesting looking at Presidents unpopularity numbers to see when they had their highest disapproval ratings and how high their disapproval ratings were.
Bush is at a record high of 76%. It may be hard for anyone to be as unpopular as he is. It will take hard work to be that unpopular. Truman was actually more unpopular than Nixon during Watergate as he had a 67% disapproval rating, while Nixon had a 66% disapproval rating. Just imagine, in 1952, Eisenhower would've probably ran TV ads saying that the Democrat running for President voted with Truman 90% of the time, and it probably would have been as effective. Most of the other modern Presidents (Clinton, Reagan, Carter, LBJ) had their highest disapproval ratings in the 50's. I am surprised that Ford's highest disapproval number was 46%. It makes you wonder why he wasn't re-elected compared to some of these other Presidents. Maybe no one really liked or disliked him. He never really pushed the envelope and he never really brought out passion or emotion in anyone. Eisenhower's highest disapproval number was 36% and JFK's highest disapproval number was only 30%. Either the 1950's and early 1960's were a 'golden age' or people just did not want to disapprove of their Presidents. Of course, Eisenhower was a great WWII General, so maybe people would feel uncomfortable disapproving of his Presidential actions, while JFK was charismatic and could probably sell a freezer to an Eskimo.
It will be interesting to see what Barack Obama does. He will probably go in with high popularity ratings and people will probably cut him a lot of slack because of the situation that he is coming into. Of course, he will be expected to start producing positive results. I think Dick Morris, who worked with President Clinton, is saying that if there was ever an election to lose, that it would be this one. He doesn't think it is humanly possible to quickly get things back to the way that we have been used to them being and that the person who won this election will lose in 2012. I think that people are going to give the next President a break since he is going into office with the worst economic situation since possibly the Great Depression. FDR got an 8 year long break before the economy finally recovered. Even if there is only minor improvment during Obama's first 4 years, I think he will get credit for it and that people will give him the benefit of the doubt if there are setbacks. It helps that he has most of the media except Fox News behind him, so he will get favorable reporting no matter what he does. The only thing he has to avoid doing is overreaching. If he tries to overreach by pursuing a program that most people oppose or he does something that people see as an abuse of power or an infringment of peoples' rights, then he may lose popularity. I think that it is silly to start comparing Obama to Lincoln and FDR. He hasn't even been sworn in yet. SO far, the only comparison to FDR one can legitimately give is on his support of an active government and the fact that he is coming into power during a financial crisis.
Bush is less popular than Nixon in final days
Politico Staff Politico Staff
Mon Nov 10, 1:11 pm ET
With 71 days left in office, President Bush is less popular than President Nixon was at the time of his resignation, according to data released Monday by CNN and Opinion Research Corporation.
The new poll, taken Thursday through Sunday, showed an approval rating of 24 percent and a disapproval rating of 76 percent.
CNN released a chart showing presidential "disapproval" ratings in CNN or Gallup polls for each president dating back to Harry Truman. This list shows the percentage of Americans who disapproved of the way each president was handling his job.
% Disapprove - Date
G.W. Bush: 76% - Nov. 2008
Clinton: 54% - Sept. 1994
G.H.W. Bush: 60% - July 1992
Reagan: 56% - Jan. 1983
Carter: 59% - June 1979
Ford: 46% - April, Nov., Dec. 1975
Nixon: 66% - Aug. 1974
Johnson: 52% - March, Aug. 1968
Kennedy: 30% - Nov. 1963
Eisenhower: 36% - March 1958
Truman: 67% - Jan. 1952