This is interesting - a chart of presidential approval ratings going back to Truman (click to embiggen). Interesting that the highest approval rates occurred in wartime (Truman post WWII, Bush pere in Iraq, and Bush fils post 9/11) and that all of these positive rates plunged significantly. Also interesting is that Clinton is the only president whose approval seems of have actually increased during his term.
(source)
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That is very interesting. Clinton is the only one to go up (from beginning to end) but to be fair Reagan seems to have stayed pretty solid, too. Putting numbers in perspective is a fun game. I remember back in 2004 when GWB won again, there was much reporting on how he received the most votes ever. It sounds impressive until you go back and see just how many elections were won with "the most votes ever". Oh and the second highest number of votes for a candidate ever was for John Kerry. I think 3rd was Al Gore, but I'd have to look at the numbers again. Where did I leave that list I made...?
Thanks for the correct use of 'embiggen'.
It's sad to realize my remaining heroes are all cartoon characters.
Does anyone out there knw if the statistical methods used to determine such approval ratings have changed through the depicted time interval? If so, any generalizations must be made very carefully.
Assuming the statistical methods have remained roughly constant, there is a change around the time of the Vietnam War - no subsequent President before the end of the Cold War rose to the heights of approval reached by Eisenhower, Kennedy and Johnson is his early years. Did Americans start to measure their Presidents by higher standards after Vietnam and Watergate?
Bush Snr seems to have got a big lift from the collapse of communism and the First Gulf War, but that was dissipated by economic woes. Interstingly, Bush Jnr. seems to have achieved a higher ranking in the polls than anyone, and his fall has been just as precipitous. With his domestic program in tatters (reform of Social Security? Immigration?) and stuck in a Middle Eastern quagmire of his own making, will Bush Jnr hit both the highest and lowest poll figures ever?