President Obama has been dragged through the mud by both media and public alike, with his approval rating sometimes sinking as low as 14 percent among the GOP due to perceived damage to the economy and a weak foreign policy game. Despite a mostly stagnating economy and disappointing unemployment rates, President Obama's approval rating seems to be going upwards.
President Obama's Approval Rating At Record High -- How Does Younger President Bush Compare?
Some presidents' approval ratings must be taken with caution, though. Pew Research found that, among other factors, things like the party a person belongs to have increasingly affected if they like a certain president. For instance, Democrats tended to have a bad taste in their mouths about Republican Commander-In-Chief Dwight Eisenhower. Meanwhile, Republicans were sour about leaders such as Bill Clinton and President Obama.
Some major events in history (and how a president reacts) can also influence their approval ratings. When President Obama freed several terrorist operatives in exchange for an imprisoned U.S. army deserter, for instance, most people were none too happy. Along the same lines, there were mixed reactions to how Franklin Roosevelt handled the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in the 1940s.
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There has also been speculation that President Obama's approval ratings could help Hillary Clinton. CNN found that 94 percent of voters who back the incumbent leader also support Clinton in her bid for the Democratic Party's presidential nod.
Let's go win this, together. pic.twitter.com/vCKpROauyZ— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) July 29, 2016
— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) July 29, 2016
Either way, it couldn't hurt the Clinton campaign to have President Obama behind them. To put things in perspective, the most-approved pres in recent history was John F. Kennedy, with an astounding 70 percent rating. Dwight Eisenhower comes in close with 65 percent, and George W. Bush has a mere 49.4 percent.
Harry Truman was another president with a fairly low approval ranking, about 49 percent. This might have been due to the fact that the former commander-in-chief dropped the atom bombs on Japan that brought WWII to a close.
Let us know what you think of President Obama's approval ratings. Are they well deserved, or not so much?
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