I just read Jon Meacham's article titled "Don't Ask for a Thank You, Mr. President" in Newsweek and it reminded me to look up a Wall Street Journal article comparing the job approval of Presidents going back to Truman.
Presidential Approval at 20 Months
President | Gallup |
---|
Truman | 62% |
Eisenhower | 64% |
Kennedy | 65% |
Johnson | 65% |
Nixon | 55% |
Ford | 47% |
Carter | 42% |
Reagan | 42% |
Bush 41 | 67% |
Clinton | 42% |
Bush 43 | 64% |
Obama | 43% |
In short, the reports of Obama's "plummeting poll ratings" are greatly exaggerated.. Among recent Presidents, a rating in the low 40's is hardly the kiss of death, as both Reagan and Clinton are popularly considered to have been successful Presidents, and both served two terms. Both Bushes, in fact, were helped by wars (Americans rally behind their Presidents during war). And both Clinton and Obama have been hammered incessantly by rightwing press.
Perhaps most importantly, since LBJ, all Presidents - except Clinton - have dipped below 40% job approval at some point in their Presidencies.
Unlike Republican Presidents, Democrats do not have a megaphone like Fox (and talk radio) to trumpet their successes, though several writers have attempted to do so, including, recently, Eugene Robinson, WaPo, "Obama's Winning Streak" and Jon Meacham, Newsweek, "Don't Wait for a Thank You, Mr. President."
***************
Here is a link to an interactive version of the wsj.com graphs. It provides individual graphs for each President. It requires FlashPlayer, which I don't have on my otherwise-delightful iPad.
Update: Today (August 24), Obama is up to 45 in the Gallup tracking poll. I will update the table on Setember 1.