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:
- "Do you approve or disapprove of the way Barack Obama is handling his job as President?"[1]
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 Barack Obama
| Polling group's most recent poll for President Barack Obama: | ||||
| Polling Group (Reverse Chronologically) | Date | Approval | Disapproval | Other |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rasmussen Reports[2][3] | 12/9/2009 | 48% | 52% | 0% |
| Marist College[4] | 12/3-7/2009 | 46% | 44% | 10% |
| USA Today/Gallup[5][4] | 12/4-6/2009 | 47% | 46% | 7% |
| Ipsos/McClatchy[4] | 12/3-6/2009 | 49% | 49% | 2% |
| CNN/Opinion Research[4] | 12/2-3/2009 | 48% | 50% | 2% |
| FOX News/Opinion Dynamics[4] | 11/17-18/2009 | 46% | 46% | 8% |
| CBS News/New York Times[4] | 11/13-16/2009 | 53% | 36% | 11% |
| ABC News/Washington Post[4][6] | 11/12-15/2009 | 56% | 42% | 2% |
| Quinnipiac University[4] | 11/9-16/2009 | 48% | 42% | 10% |
| Associated Press - GfK[4][7] | 11/5-9/2009 | 54% | 43% | 3% |
| Zogby International[8][3] | 11/4-6/2009 | 49% | 51% | 0% |
| Pew Research Center[4] | 10/28 - 11/8/2009 | 51% | 36% | 13% |
| NBC/Wall Street Journal[4][9] | 10/22-25/2009 | 51% | 42% | 7% |
Historical comparison
Historical Gallup Poll approval highs and lows for each President since 1937:[10][11]
| Order | President | Highest Approval | Lowest Approval | Approval Difference | Highest Disapproval | Average Approval [10] |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 44[5] | Obama | 69 (1/22/09) | 47 (12/6/09) | 22 | 46 (12/6/09) | 58.0[1][12] |
| 43[13] | Bush (G.W.) | 90 (9/21/01) | 25 (10/3/08, 10/10/08, 10/31/08) | 65 | 71 (10/10/08) | 49.4 |
| 42[14] | Clinton | 73 (12/19/98) | 37 (5/26/93) | 36 | 54 (9/6/94) | 55.1 |
| 41[15] | Bush (G.H.W.) | 89 (2/28/91) | 29 (7/31/92) | 60 | 60 (7/31/92) | 60.9 |
| 40[16] | Reagan | 68 (5/16/86) | 45 (1/28/83) | 45 | 56 (1/28/83) | 52.8 |
| 39[17] | Carter | 75 (3/18/77) | 28 (6/29/79) | 47 | 59 (6/29/79) | 45.5 |
| 38[18] | Ford | 71 (8/16/74) | 37 (3/28/75) | 34 | 46 (4/18/75, 11/21/75) | 47.2 |
| 37[19] | Nixon | 67 (1/26/73) | 24 (8/2/74) | 43 | 66 (8/2/74) | 49.1 |
| 36[20] | Johnson | 79 (2/28/64) | 35 (8/7/68) | 44 | 52 (8/7/68, 3/10/68) | 55.1 |
| 35[21] | Kennedy | 83 (3/8/62) | 56 (9/12/63) | 27 | 30 (9/12/63, 11/8/63) | 70.1 |
| 34[22] | Eisenhower | 79 (12/14/56) | 48 (3/27/58) | 31 | 36 (3/27/58) | 65.0 |
| 33[23] | Truman | 87 (6/1/45) | 22 (2/9/52) | 65 | 67 (1/6/52) | 45.4 |
| 32[24] | Roosevelt (F.D.) | 84 (1/8/42) | 48 (8/18/39) | 36 | 46 (5/22/38, 5/29/38, 11/7/38) |
Graphs
| Gallup Poll graphs of approval ratings for Presidents of the United States: | |||||||||||||
|
See also
References
- ^ a b "Presidential Approval Ratings – Barack Obama". www.gallup.com. http://www.gallup.com/poll/116479/Barack-Obama-Presidential-Job-Approval.aspx. Retrieved 1 December 2009.
- ^ ""Daily Presidential Tracking Poll"". www.rasmussenreports.com. http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/obama_administration/daily_presidential_tracking_poll. Retrieved 17 November 2009.
- ^ a b Rassmussen Reports and Zogby International make undisclosed adjustments to the numbers derived from polling registered voters to estimate the approval rating among "likely voters".
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k "Obama: Job Ratings". www.pollingreport.com. http://www.pollingreport.com/obama_job.htm. Retrieved 24 November 2009.
- ^ a b c Gallup.com
- ^ "President Obama's Approval Ratings (washingtonpost.com)". www.washingtonpost.com. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/interactives/obama/approval/index.html. Retrieved 17 November 2009.
- ^ Conducted by GfK Roper Public Affairs & Media
- ^ "Zogby Interactive: Obama Job Approval Holds Steady at 49%". http://www.zogby.com/news/ReadNews.cfm?ID=1767. Retrieved 17 November 2009.
- ^ Conducted by the polling organizations of Peter D. Hart (D) and Bill McInturff (R)
- ^ a b Gallup.com
- ^ Only the results of Gallup polls are included, as no other poll results exist for earlier presidents. The far larger number of polls, using different methods, for recent presidents would result in a wider spread and both higher and lower extremes
- ^ http://www.gallup.com/poll/113980/Gallup-Daily-Obama-Job-Approval.aspx
- ^ Gallup.com
- ^ Job Performance Ratings for President Clinton at the
Roper Center for Public Opinion Research - ^ Job Performance Ratings for President Bush (G.H.W.) at ibid.
- ^ Job Performance Ratings for President Reagan at ibid.
- ^ Job Performance Ratings for President Carter at ibid.
- ^ Job Performance Ratings for President Ford at ibid.
- ^ Job Performance Ratings for President Nixon at ibid.
- ^ Job Performance Ratings for President Johnson at ibid.
- ^ Job Performance Ratings for President Kennedy at ibid.
- ^ Job Performance Ratings for President Eisenhower at ibid.
- ^ Job Performance Ratings for President Truman at ibid.
- ^ Job Performance Ratings for President Roosevelt at ibid.
External links
This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)
