Approval rating
 
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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:

"Which of the following best describes your opinion of the things President George W. Bush has done: strongly approve, somewhat approve, somewhat disapprove, strongly disapprove, or no opinion/undecided."

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 (George W. Bush)

Polling group's last poll for the President George W. Bush:
Polling Group (Alphabetically) Date Approval Disapproval Other
ABCNews/Washington Post[1] 8/19-22/2008 30% 66% 4%
American Research Group[2] 6/16-19/2008 25% 71% 4%
Associated Press/Ipsos[3] 7/31 - 8/04/2008 31% 66% *
CBSNews/New York Times[4] 7/31 - 8/05/2008 25% 66% 9%
CNN/Opinion Research[5] 7/27-29/2008 30% 68% 1%
Diageo/Hotline[6] 8/18-24/2008 33% 64% 4%
FOXNews/Opinion Dynamics[7] 8/19-20/2008 28% 67% 5%
Gallup[8] 8/21-23/2008 29% 66% 5%
LA Times/Bloomberg[9] 8/15-18/2008 25% 71% 4%
NBC/Wall Street Journal[10] 8/15-18/2008 31% 64% 5%
Newsweek[11] 7/9-10/2008 28% 63% 9%
NPR[12] 5/7-10/2008 33% 65% 3%
Pew Research[13] 7/23-27/2008 27% 68% 5%
Quinnipiac[14] 8/12-17/2008 30% 64% 5%
Rasmussen[15] 6/15-21/2008 32% 65% 3%
Time/SRBI[16] 7/31 - 8/04/2008 29% 66% 5%
President Bush's approval rating from February/3/2001 to March/16/2008. Gallup Poll.
President Bush's approval rating from February/3/2001 to March/16/2008. Gallup Poll[8].



Polling group's graphs of approval rating for the President George W. Bush:

ABCNews Poll[17]. April/22/2001 to June/1/2007.

Newsweek Poll[11][18]. February/9/2001 to July/12/2007.

CBS News/New York Times. February 2001 to June 2007.

Historical comparison

Historical approval highs and lows for each President since 1937:
President Highest Approval Lowest Approval
Bush (G.W.) 92 10/8-9/01,ABC Poll[19] 19 2/16-19/08, American Research Group poll [2]
Clinton 73 1/28/98 CBS/NYTimes Poll

73 12/19-20/98, USA Today/CNN/ Gallup Poll

 36 5/26-27/93, [1]
Bush (G.H.W.) 89 2/28/-3/3/91, Gallup Poll 29 7/31-8/2/92, Gallup Poll
Reagan 68 5/8-11/81, Gallup Poll

68 5/16-19/86, Gallup Poll

 35 1/28-31/83, Gallup Poll
Carter 75 3/18-21/77, Gallup Poll 28 6/29-7/2/79, Gallup Poll
Ford 74 8/16-19/74, Gallup Poll 37 1/10-13/75, Gallup Poll

37 3/28-31/75, Gallup Poll
Nixon 67 11/12-17/69, Gallup Poll

67 1/26-29/73, Gallup Poll

 24 7/12-15/1974, Gallup Poll

24 8/2-5/1974, Gallup Poll
Johnson 80 2/28-3/5/64, Gallup Poll 35 8/7-12/68, Gallup Poll
Kennedy 80 3/8-13/62, Gallup Poll 56 9/12-17/63, Gallup Poll
Eisenhower 79 12/14-19/56, Gallup Poll 48 3/27-4/1/58, Gallup Poll
Truman 87 6/1-5/45, Gallup Poll 22 2/9-14/52, Gallup Poll
Roosevelt 84 1/8-13/42, Gallup Poll 48 8/18-24/39, Gallup Poll


Highest approval rating

George W. Bush holds the record with 92% (10/8-9/2001 -- after the September 11 attacks).
George H.W. Bush is second highest, with 89% (2/28/-3/3/1991 -- after the Gulf War).
Harry S. Truman is third highest, with 87% (6/1-5/1945 -- after the End of World War II in Europe).
Franklin D. Roosevelt is fourth highest, with 84% (1/8-13/1942 -- after the Attack on Pearl Harbor).

Lowest approval rating

George W. Bush holds the record, at 19% (2/16-19/2008 -- during the Iraq Insurgency).
Harry S. Truman is second lowest, at 22% (2/9-14/1952 -- during the Korean War).
Richard Nixon is third lowest, with 24% (7/12-15/1974, 8/2-5/1974 -- during the Watergate scandal).
Jimmy Carter is fourth lowest, with 28% (6/29-7/2/79 -- during the Iran hostage crisis).

Highest minimum approval rating during the president term in office

John F. Kennedy holds the record at 56% (9/12-17/1963, 14% undecided).
Dwight D. Eisenhower is second-equal highest at 48% (3/27-4/1/1958, 16% undecided).
Franklin D. Roosevelt is second-equal highest at 48% (8/18-24/1939, 8% undecided).
Gerald Ford is fourth highest at 37% (3/28-31/1975, 20% undecided).

Biggest approval rating difference during the president term in office

George W. Bush holds the record with 73 percentage points.
Harry S. Truman is second highest with 65 percentage points.
George H.W. Bush is third highest with 60 percentage points.
Jimmy Carter is fourth highest with 47 percentage points.

Highest disapproval rating

George W. Bush holds the record with 73% (6/19-23/2008, 4% undecided, LA Times/Bloomberg Poll [20]).
Harry S. Truman is second highest, with 67% (1/6-11/1952, 9% undecided, Gallup Poll).
Richard Nixon is third highest, with 66% (1/4-7/1974, 10% undecided, Gallup Poll).
George H.W. Bush is fourth highest, with 60% (7/31-8/2/92, 11% undecided, Gallup Poll).

Graphs

Gallup Poll graphs of approval ratings for former Presidents of the United States:

President George W. Bush.

President Bill Clinton.

President George H. W. Bush.

President Ronald Reagan.

President Jimmy Carter.

President Gerald Ford.

President Richard Nixon.

President Lyndon B. Johnson.

President John F. Kennedy.

President Dwight D. Eisenhower.

President Harry S. Truman.

President Franklin D. Roosevelt.

Related concepts

There are several polling concepts related to an approval rating. A disapproval rating measures the number of people who disapprove of a politician, and is essentially the opposite of an approval rating. A net approval rating is the difference between an individual's approval and disapproval numbers. This number is especially useful with individuals who lack name recognition. A candidate which registers 50% undecided, and has a 30% approval versus a 20% disapproval could be judged to have a favorable net approval rating, even though 30% approval looks bad on its own.

There are also favorability rating polls done during a president's tenure that gauge whether people have a favorable impression of the president or not.

References

  1. ^ ABCNews
  2. ^ a b American Research Group
  3. ^ Ipsos
  4. ^ Americans' continue to hold pessimistic views of the nation's economy but they are slightly better than they were a few weeks ago when the public's perceptions of the economy hit a record low
  5. ^ CNN
  6. ^ Diageo/Hotline
  7. ^ FOXNews
  8. ^ a b The Gallup poll
  9. ^ LA Times
  10. ^ MSNBC
  11. ^ a b Newsweek
  12. ^ NPR
  13. ^ Pew Research
  14. ^ Quinnipiac
  15. ^ Rasmussen Report
  16. ^ SRBI
  17. ^ ABCNews
  18. ^ PollingReport
  19. ^ ABCNews
  20. ^ LA Times/Bloomberg Poll, June 2008

See also

External links
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