Bush is #2… Worst, that is
In addition to the polling about current or hoped-for candidates for 2008, the news is bad for Dubya: a 28% approval rating, versus a 64% disapproval rating.
Comparing Gallup polling since FDR’s time (68 years of polling), here’s all the presidents who had a majority disapproving:
8. Lyndon B. Johnson
March 10, 1968; August 7, 1968
52% disapproval rating
7. Bill Clinton
September 6-7, 1994
54% disapproval rating
6. Ronald W. Reagan
January 28, 1983
56% disapproval rating
5. Jimmy Carter
June 29, 1979
59% disapproval rating
4. George H.W. Bush
July 31, 1992
60% disapproval rating
3. Harry S. Truman
January 1952
62% disapproval rating
2. George W. Bush
May 2-3, 2007
64% disapproval rating
1. Richard M. Nixon
August 2, 1974
66% disapproval rating
Bush is the second worst, just 2% from the level that forced Nixon to resign a week later. Nobody in the worst five proved re-electable.
(Only FDR, Dwight Eisenhower, JFK and Jerry Ford avoided this list.)
Looking at approval numbers only, the worst five were:
5) George H. W. Bush, 29%
3T) Jimmy Carter, 28%
3T) George W. Bush, 28%
2) Richard Nixon, 24%
1) Harry Truman, 23%
So he’s tied for 3rd, just 4-5% from the worst.
Oddly, the 3 most popular ever polled also plummeted into the bottom 5:
1) George W. Bush
90% (post 9-11, after invading Afghanistan) to 28%
a 62 point drop
2) George H.W. Bush
89% (after invading Iraq) to 29%
a 60 point drop
3) Harry Truman
87% (post VE Day) to 22%
a 65 point drop
So he’s had the second worst drop overall. Yet the only thing sustaining him is continued support from the Republicans in Congress, despite his clear unpopularity.
Because of the 2008 elections, that will erode steadily from September 2007 through next May, not because of changes in Iraq, but solely because of their reelection concerns.
That’s how much they care about our troops.
May 6th, 2007 at 5:36 am
[…] You may not agree with him, but at least you know where he stands. Bush praises himself with such talk. The people can’t stand it. At 28% in the latest poll, Bush might want to sit down and listen. Republicans across the country are screwed. […]
May 6th, 2007 at 7:38 pm
ya! what a strange moment of synchronicity. Earlier today, I was telling a ‘proud conservative’ that Bush is the second worst president ever. Behind Buchanan, of course. We were talking ‘worst ever,’ rather than talking about polls. But still, this post made bells go off in my head.