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.
On a more positive note, Democrats credit Obama with creating jobs as well as de-escalating the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. They also note that he greatly reduced the number of Americans who have to depend on welfare, and made healthcare affordable for thousands. Some also claim Obama vastly reduced the number of uninsured Americans.
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.
Hilary Clinton is the type of woman who sits in front of you in an empty movie theatre so you can't put your feet up
— Matt Simmons (@Matt_Simmons18) August 4, 2016
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
This isn’t a huge surprise; with Bernie Sanders having dropped from the race, Democrats are increasingly seeing Hillary as their only salvation from Donald Trump and stressing unity behind her. Even First Lady Michelle Obama touted Clinton’s qualifications for the office of the presidency. It may have been that Sanders decided to admit near-inevitable defeat, or that he wanted to prevent a split vote among liberals.
I trust Mexican tap water more than Hilary Clinton ????
— al nelli (@alpal_03) August 3, 2016
Currently, Hillary Clinton has a 49 percent approval rating among voters to Donald Trump’s 39 percent. The sample is only among 1,022 registered voters, however, and some of the sample said they would not vote or were unsure.
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?
[Photo by Getty Images Pool]