I am "concerned"-actuallly I kind of am-When will the President reach 50% approval again?

[Politics_Guy25]

He hasn't reached 50% approval in any legit poll since the oil spill crisis. Newsweek and CNN polls aren't the most credible in my eyes. Has any President ever been under 50% for this long and bounced back?

We're looking at at least mid 2011 or even later before we see 50% approval again right?

SOTUs usaully do it but for some reason the public doesn't like the speeches given by this President the way that they liked other President's SOTUs.

Maybe 3 straight months of the UI number going down and no screw-ups will do it?

Getting very tired of being at 42%.

He hasn't even approached 50% in Gallup in months. Rasmussen is not credible either. He'll be at 50% one day and then down to 42% the next so it's sampling error.

[tabatha]

1. He is higher now than either Reagan or Clinton were at this point.

[angee_is_mad]

2. still higher than the past 4 Presidents

during the same time, but I'm sure that's an answer you weren't looking for.

[Politics_Guy25]

3. No that's not true

Other presidents have had lower approval ratings than this to be sure but they hit that low level mark and then bounced back up above 50% for a while, then cratered again. This one has been mired in the low-to-mid 40s all year and hasn't experienced a single bounce.

This is how Clinton went in gallup:
01/26/1996 01/29/1996 52 42 6
01/12/1996 01/15/1996 46 46 7
01/05/1996 01/07/1996 42 49 8
12/15/1995 12/18/1995 50 43 5
11/17/1995 11/18/1995 53 37 9
11/06/1995 11/08/1995 52 40 7
10/19/1995 10/22/1995 49 39 11
10/05/1995 10/07/1995 46 42 11
09/22/1995 09/24/1995 47 43 8
09/14/1995 09/17/1995 43 43 12
08/28/1995 08/30/1995 45 43 11
08/04/1995 08/07/1995 45 42 12
07/20/1995 07/23/1995 46 43 9
07/07/1995 07/09/1995 47 43 9
06/05/1995 06/06/1995 46 42 10
05/11/1995 05/14/1995 50 42 7
04/21/1995 04/24/1995 50 39 9
04/17/1995 04/19/1995 46 45 8
04/05/1995 04/06/1995 46 44 8

See what I mean. Bouncy bouncy. Up to 50% then down then up to 50% again.

[Politics_Guy25]

5. BTW, it woul be ridiculous not to care about being stuck in the 40s

Plouffe re-energizing the W.H. is our best hope at this point in time. He arrives in 2011.

[angee_is_mad]

6. another clinton supporter

should have figure.

[Pamelita]

10. President Obama's approval is NOT higher than Clinton's, Bush Jr. or Bush Sr. at a comparable time

The person who said Obama has a higher approval than the last four Presidents had no clue what he was talking about.

We are in November of the 2nd year of President Obama's presidency. In Gallup, his approval is 42%. In November of 1994, that is, the November of Bill Clinton's second year, two Gallup approval polls were conducted. In the first one (November 2-6) Clinton's approval was 46%. In the second poll (November 28-29) his approval was 43%.
President George W. Bush's approval sucked in general, but if we are talking about comparable periods. Bush's approval was in the mid 60's at this point in time.

George Bush the father had an approval above 50 in November, 1990; that is, November of his second year: http://webapps.ropercenter.uconn.edu/CFIDE/roper/presidential/webroot/presidential_rating_detail.cfm?allRate=True&presidentName=Bush%20(G.H.W.)

Let's learn how to do research and stick to the facts.


http://www.gallup.com/poll/116584/presidential-approval-ratings-bill-clinton.aspx

[CJCRANE]

7. Those aren't the figures for Clinton's first two years! Try again. nt

[Davis_X_Machina]

4. Not until his last 90 days in office....

...or 24 hours after waking up and finding that he's suddenly become white.

Too polarizing a figure to have it otherwise.

[liberalpragmatist]

8. It'll probably be low for the remainder of the year

The polling averages have his numbers at about 45%, and frankly, that's fairly high considering the state of the economy -- it's not at all difficult to imagine a president having approval ratings in the 30s under these conditions. That actually makes me fairly confident: if the economy shows any sign of recovery, he should go back over 50% if his ratings are as high as they are amidst 10% unemployment.

My guess is that they'll stay low for the next few months and may bottom out near the beginning of next year (possibly with one or two polls that have him under 40%). Then, depending on the economy, it'll shift over the course of 2011 - it'll stay low if we go into a double-dip, but if there's a sustained recovery, they'll slowly climb. (And remember, we had a genuinely good jobs report for last month, so hopefully the trend will continue.) If we get a sustained recovery - not even a super one, just a moderate expansion and a drop in unemployment - it'll probably go back over 50%.

Moreover, your comparisons are screwy. You're comparing Clinton in '95 and '96 with Obama in 2010. The proper comparison would be Clinton in 1994.

And again, check out Reagan's ratings: they were lower than Obama's are and they were in the low 40s - even mid-30s throughout 1982 and the first half of 1983.

http://www.gallup.com/poll/124922/Presidential-Job-Approval-Center.aspx

[angee_is_mad]

9. thank you

so very much!

[zbdent]

11. Probably sometime in the middle of 2013, when we've had several months

of the shi*head who gets elected from the Tea Party wing of the Republican party, thank you "liberally-biased media" ...