Politics More: White House Barack Obama Approval Rating Polls Obama's Current Approval Rating Is The Ugliest Since Nixon

[mystery-ak]

http://www.businessinsider.com/obama-approval-rating-polls-nixon-2013-12

Obama's Current Approval Rating Is The Ugliest Since Nixon
Brett LoGiurato

Dec. 17, 2013, 10:02 AM

President Barack Obama is ending his fifth year in office with the lowest approval ratings at this point in the presidency since President Richard Nixon, according to a new Washington Post/ABC poll released Tuesday.

Obama's approval rating in the poll stands at 43%. By comparison, President George W. Bush had a 47% approval rating at the end of the fifth year of his presidency. And all other Post-World War II presidents had approval ratings above 50% — with the exception of Nixon, who, amid the Watergate scandal, had a dreadful 29% approval rating.

The brutal numbers underscore what has been something of a lost year for the President. His approval ratings have been plunging recently as a result of the botched implementation of the Affordable Care Act. In the Washington Post/ABC poll, only 34% approve of how Obama is handling his signature health law's implementation.


Obama has also been hit by the damage of Washington's recent fiscal battles, including the 16-day federal government shutdown. His administration also experienced a number of setbacks throughout the year — the controversy over some of the National Security Agency's surveillance practices, the debate over military intervention in Syria, the controversy over the IRS' targeting of certain organizations for more scrutiny, and more.

Earlier this month, Obama's average approval rating, according to Real Clear Politics, slipped below 40% for the first time in his presidency.

Some of the key findings of the WaPo/ABC poll:

    43% of respondents approve of Obama, compared with 55% who disapprove;
    42% approve of how he's handling the economy; 55% disapprove;
    34% approve of how congressional Democrats are handling their jobs; 64% disapprove;
    24% approve of how congressional Republicans are doing their jobs; 73% disapprove;
    On the question of who respondents "trust" to do a better job with the nation's problems, 41% say Obama, and 41% say congressional Republicans;
    45% trust congressional Republicans more to handle the economy — 41% say Obama;
    42% trust Obama more with the implementation of the Affordable Care Act — 37% say congressional Republicans.

[Oceander]

Nixon had a 29% approval rating in the midst of Watergate?  That must have been kids, those in intensive care, and those who had become hermits holing up in caves and the hills.

[Rapunzel]

Nixon had a 29% approval rating in the midst of Watergate?  That must have been kids, those in intensive care, and those who had become hermits holing up in caves and the hills.

For the first year his poll numbers stayed up, but once they started dropping they never looked back... instead kept going down, down, down.. however he didn't have an obedient press and both parties joined together in a Select Committee to investigate him, at that point it was all over for Nixon.

[GourmetDan]

... however he didn't have an obedient press and both parties joined together in a Select Committee to investigate him, at that point it was all over for Nixon.

Given the same scrutiny and criticism, I'm thinking that Bambi's numbers would be single-digit...