Re: Ding, Ding, Ding, Ding...

On Wed, 27 Apr 2011, [email protected] wrote:
> And I believe Obama is still well above George W. Bush approval ratings.

Hmmm ...

https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/United_States_presidential_approval_rating#Historical_comparison

Well, Dubya's ratings wavered between 90 and 25 (that's some waver!), for 
an average of 49.4.  And Obama's have wavered between 69 and 41, for an 
average of 51.  But Bush's highest disapproval rating was 71, and Obama's 
highest disapproval rating so far is only 52.

Interestingly, the only presidents in the past 70 years to have had an 
approval-rating average that was *not* between 45 and 55 are:

    George H.W. Bush -- 60.9 -- and he still lost re-election!
    John F. Kennedy -- 70.1
    Dwight D. Eisenhower -- 65.0

And the president with the lowest approval rating ever was Harry S. Truman 
(in February 1952 -- no wonder he didn't run for that third term that he 
was eligible for!).  But Truman's highest disapproval rating was still 
"only" 67 -- a record that went unbeaten until Dubya's 71.

Interestingly, only two presidents (apart from Obama) in the last 70 years 
have *never* had approval ratings of 70 or higher:

    Barack H. Obama -- 69 (in January 2009)
    Ronald W. Reagan -- 68 (in May 1986)
    Richard M. Nixon -- 67 (in January 1973)

Yet despite never having higher approval ratings, Reagan and Nixon were 
somehow the only presidents to carry 49 states in their re-election bids!

Now *there's* an interesting precedent that Obama can look to!  :)

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