Bush More Popular than Obama? Say it Ain’t So

In honor of Presidents’ Day, pollsters decided to rank our most popular presidents of all time. In a twist ending worthy of early Shyamalan, it turns out that George W. Bush came out slightly ahead of sitting President Barack Obama, at least by one measure of the poll.

Bad news for the President as he hopes to head into his second term of office?

Roughly 46% of Americans favor our current president while 49% pretty much immovably dislike him. This marks a 3-point favorability gap, in contrast to former president Bush who only has a one-point gap, which is better. Bush’s numbers are at 45% approval and 46% disapproval. Granted, Republicans and other untethered right wingers loathe president Obama more than any other demographic loathes any other president (pretty much ever) from 12% to 84%.

But don’t lose hope, Barack-o-bots! The fact that president Obama IS the sitting president has much to do with his dismal figures. The pollsters say that once Obama leaves office, be it next year or four after that, his negative numbers will soften. After all, Republicans despised Bill Clinton while he was in office, but have since come ’round to the appeal of the 42nd president… at least more than democrats have turned in favor of Bush.

How do other former presidents measure up?

George Washington clocked in at number 1 (big surprise with 89% favor and 3% otherwise), Abraham Lincoln came in second with (85% to 7%), with Thomas Jefferson, Teddy Roosevelt, and John Adams rounding out the top 5. Richard Nixon sits at the bottom of the list (27% to 59%) with Lyndon Johnson, Warren Harding, Millard Fillmore, and Herbert Hoover behind him.

Reactions to the poll, dear reader?