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In the United States, presidential job approval ratings were introduced by George Gallup in the late 1930s (probably 1937) to gauge public support for the president during his presidency. An approval rating is a percentage determined by a polling which indicates the percentage of respondents to an opinion poll who approve of a particular person or program. Most often an approval rating is given to a political figure based on responses to a poll in which a sample of people are asked whether they approve or disapprove of that particular political figure. A typical question might ask:
- "Which of the following best describes your opinion of the things President George W. Bush has done: strongly approve, somewhat approve, somewhat disapprove, strongly disapprove, or no opinion/undecided."
Like most surveys that predict public opinion, the approval rating is subjective. Many unscientific approval rating systems exist that skew popular opinion. However, the approval rating is generally accepted as the general opinion of the people.
Contents |
Current President (George W. Bush)
| Polling group's last poll for the President George W. Bush: | ||||
| Polling Group (Alphabetically) | Date | Approval | Disapproval | Other |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ABCNews/Washington Post12 | 10/8-11/2008 | 23% | 73% | 4% |
| American Research Group3 | 10/16-19/2008 | 20% | 75% | 5% |
| Associated Press/Ipsos4 | 11/6-10/2008 | 28% | 67% | * |
| CBSNews/New York Times5 | 10/31 - 11/2/2008 | 20% | 72% | 8% |
| CNN/Opinion Research'6 | 11/6-9/2008 | 24% | 76% | 1% |
| Diageo/Hotline7 | 11/6-9/2008 | 29% | 65% | 6% |
| FOXNews/Opinion Dynamics8 | 11/1-2/2008 | 26% | 67% | 7% |
| Gallup/USA Today9 | 11/7-9/2008 | 28% | 68% | 4% |
| LA Times/Bloomberg10 | 10/10-13/2008 | 23% | 72% | 5% |
| NBC/Wall Street Journal11 | 11/1-2/2008 | 26% | 67% | 7% |
| Newsweek12 | 10/22-23/2008 | 23% | 67% | 10% |
| Pew Research13 | 10/23-26/2008 | 22% | 70% | 8% |
| Quinnipiac14 | 11/6-10/2008 | 23% | 71% | 5% |
| Rasmussen15 | 10/25-31/2008 | 33% | 64% | 3% |
| Time/SRBI16 | 10/3-6/2008 | 28% | 68% | 4% |
- Polling group's graphs of approval rating for the President George W. Bush
 ABCNews Poll17. April/22/2001 to June/1/2007. |
 CBS News/New York Times. February 2001 to February 2008. |
Historical comparison
| Historical approval highs and lows for each President since 1937: | ||
| President | Highest Approval | Lowest Approval |
|---|---|---|
| Bush (G.W.) | 92 10/8-9/01,ABC Poll19 | 19 2/16-19/08, American Research Group Poll 3 19 9/16-19/08, American Research Group Poll 3 |
| Clinton | 73 1/28/98, CBS/NYTimes Poll
73 12/19-20/98, Gallup/CNN/USAToday Poll |
36 5/26-27/93, Yank/TIME/CNN Poll[3] |
| Bush (G.H.W.) | 89 2/28/-3/3/91, Gallup Poll | 29 7/31-8/2/92, Gallup Poll |
| Reagan | 68 5/8-11/81, Gallup Poll
68 5/16-19/86, Gallup Poll |
35 1/28-31/83, Gallup Poll |
| Carter | 75 3/18-21/77, Gallup Poll | 28 6/29-7/2/79, Gallup Poll |
| Ford | 74 8/16-19/74, Gallup Poll | 37 1/10-13/75, Gallup Poll
37 3/28-31/75, Gallup Poll |
| Nixon | 67 11/12-17/69, Gallup Poll
67 1/26-29/73, Gallup Poll |
24 7/12-15/1974, Gallup Poll
24 8/2-5/1974, Gallup Poll |
| Johnson | 80 2/28-3/5/64, Gallup Poll | 35 8/7-12/68, Gallup Poll |
| Kennedy | 80 3/8-13/62, Gallup Poll | 56 9/12-17/63, Gallup Poll |
| Eisenhower | 79 12/14-19/56, Gallup Poll | 48 3/27-4/1/58, Gallup Poll |
| Truman | 87 6/1-5/45, Gallup Poll | 22 2/9-14/52, Gallup Poll |
| Roosevelt (FDR) | 84 1/8-13/42, Gallup Poll | 48 8/18-24/39, Gallup Poll |
Highest approval rating
George W. Bush holds the record with 92% (10/8-9/2001 -- after the September 11 attacks).
George H. W. Bush is second highest, with 89% (2/28/-3/3/1991 -- after the Gulf War).
Harry S Truman is third highest, with 87% (6/1-5/1945 -- after the end of World War II in Europe).
Franklin D. Roosevelt is fourth highest, with 84% (1/8-13/1942 -- after the attack on Pearl Harbor).
Lowest approval rating
George W. Bush holds the record, at 19% (2/16-19/2008 -- during the Iraqi insurgency, and 09/16-19/2008 -- after an extremely bad economic week).
Harry S Truman is second lowest, at 22% (2/9-14/1952 -- during the Korean War).
Richard Nixon is third lowest, with 24% (7/12-15/1974, 8/2-5/1974 -- during the Watergate scandal).
Jimmy Carter is fourth lowest, with 28% (6/29-7/2/79 -- during the Iran hostage crisis).
Highest minimum approval rating during the president term in office
John F. Kennedy holds the record at 56% (9/12-17/1963, 14% undecided).
Dwight D. Eisenhower is second-equal highest at 48% (3/27-4/1/1958, 16% undecided).
Franklin D. Roosevelt is second-equal highest at 48% (8/18-24/1939, 8% undecided).
Gerald Ford is fourth highest at 37% (3/28-31/1975, 20% undecided).
Biggest approval rating difference during the president term in office
George W. Bush holds the record with 73 percentage points.
Harry S Truman is second highest with 65 percentage points.
George H.W. Bush is third highest with 60 percentage points.
Jimmy Carter is fourth highest with 47 percentage points.
Highest disapproval rating
George W. Bush holds the record with 76% (9/16-19/2008, 5% undecided, ARG 20 and 11/6-9/2008, 1% undecided, CNN 6).
Harry S Truman is second highest, with 67% (1/6-11/1952, 9% undecided, Gallup Poll).
Richard Nixon is third highest, with 66% (1/4-7/1974, 10% undecided, Gallup Poll).
George H.W. Bush is fourth highest, with 60% (7/31-8/2/92, 11% undecided, Gallup Poll).
Graphs
| Gallup Poll graphs of approval ratings for Presidents of the United States past and present: | ||||||||||||
|
Related concepts
There are several polling concepts related to an approval rating. A disapproval rating measures the number of people who disapprove of a politician, and is essentially the opposite of an approval rating. A net approval rating is the difference between an individual's approval and disapproval numbers. This number is especially useful with individuals who lack name recognition. A candidate which registers 50% undecided, and has a 30% approval versus a 20% disapproval could be judged to have a favorable net approval rating, even though 30% approval looks bad on its own.
There are also favorability rating polls done during a president's tenure that gauge whether people have a favorable impression of the president or not.
See also
References
- ^ ABCNews
- ^ Washington Post
- ^ a b c American Research Group
- ^ Ipsos
- ^ Poll Shows Obama, for First Time, Has Significant Lead
- ^ a b [1]
- ^ Diageo/Hotline
- ^ FOXNews
- ^ a b The Gallup poll
- ^ LA Times
- ^ MSNBC
- ^ a b Newsweek
- ^ Pew Research
- ^ Quinnipiac
- ^ Rasmussen Report
- ^ SRBI
- ^ ABCNews
- ^ PollingReport
- ^ ABCNews
- ^ [2]
External links
- Historical Presidential Job Performance Ratings - Roper Center
- Historical Midterm Presidential Approval Ratings Data from Data360
- PollingReport
- Pollster
- RealClearPolitics
- President Job Approval Ratings
Wikipedia content modification information:
- This page was last modified on 18 November 2008, at 11:42.
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