Monday, June 22, 2009

Obama job approval slipping but not with Democrats

A friend sent me a link to the Gallup Daily and at first glance Obama's approval ratings are dropping, though they are still over 50%. When you look just a bit deeper:
Thirty-three percent of Americans now disapprove of the job Obama is doing as president, just one point shy of his record-high 34% disapproval score from early June.

Since Obama took office in January, his approval rating in Gallup tracking has averaged 63%, and most of his three-day ratings have registered above 60%. Approval of Obama did fall to 59% in individual readings in February, March, April, and early June; however, in each case, the rating lasted only a day before rebounding to at least 60%.

The latest decline in Obama's approval score, to 58%, results from a drop in approval among political independents as well as among Republicans. Democrats remain as highly supportive of the president as ever.

Obama's approval rating was 60% from June 13-15, at which time 88% of Democrats, 60% of independents, and 25% of Republicans approved of the job he was doing. In the June 16-18 polling, Democrats' approval of him stands at 92% -- up slightly -- whereas approval is down among both independents (by seven points) and Republicans (by four points).


It's interesting if you compare the approval rankings of other Presidents as to what their highest approval rating was - as an example, George Bush's highest approval rating was in 2001 at 90%.

From wiki:

Highest approval rating

George W. Bush holds the record with 90% (9/21-22/2001 -- after the September 11 attacks).
George H. W. Bush is second highest, with 89% (2/28/-3/3/1991 -- after the Persian Gulf War).
Harry S Truman is third highest, with 87% (6/1-5/1945 -- after V-E Day).
Franklin D. Roosevelt is fourth highest, with 84% (1/8-13/1942 -- after Pearl Harbor).

Lowest approval rating

Harry S Truman holds the record, at 22% (2/9-14/1952 -- during the Korean War).
Richard Nixon is second lowest, with 24% (7/12-15/1974, 8/2-5/1974 -- during Watergate).
George W. Bush is third lowest, at 25% (10/3-5/2008, 10/10-12/08, 10/31-11/2/08 -- during the Late 2000s recession).
Jimmy Carter is fourth lowest, with 28% (6/29-7/2/79 -- during the Iran hostage crisis and ensuing Operation Eagle Claw).

Lowest maximum approval rating during the president's time in office

Richard Nixon holds the record with 67% (1/26-29/1973).
Ronald Reagan is second lowest with 68% (5/8-11/1981).
Barack Obama is third lowest with 69% (1/22-24/09).
Bill Clinton is fourth lowest with 73% (12/19-20/1998).

3 comments:

Kvatch said...

Obama job approval slipping but not with Democrats...

Well...every Democrat but ME! Not like I'm keeping count, but it seems to me that Obama has already backtracked, or outright lied, regarding at least a half-a-dozen campaign promises.

kateb said...

We've had a great deal of discussion at our house over the massive spending programs going on and the impact it has on our family and their children.

It's a different thing altogether to go from the campaign trail to the Whitehouse. You don't get intelligence and security briefings prior to winning a Primary and you don't get your Presidential security clearance and that subsequent information until you win the election.

Even Joe Biden has said over the last couple of days that he and the President seriously misread the economic situation. And had they had the opportunity for a do over? Sounds like they'd take the do over.

We have to wait and see how things play out - with a Democratic controlled Congress and Whitehouse - we have not got too many other choices. Basic economics dictate that most of the policies cannot actually work - but many things work differently in practice than they lay out in the books.

John Warren said...

You forgot President Dwight D. Eisenhower who had the fifth lowest with 79%