United States presidential approval rating

Approval ratings of Barack Obama by state, 2015. Approval of the president is highest in Hawaii, at 58 percent, and lowest in West Virginia, at 24 percent.
  50%+
  40–49%
  30–39%
  Less than 30%

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 of the United States during their term. 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. Typically, 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 a statistically valid indicator of the comparative changes in the popular US mood regarding a president.

President Barack Obama

Most recent polls for President Barack Obama:[2][3][4]

Polling group Date Approval Disapproval Unsure Sample size
Gallup Poll[lower-alpha 1] October 31–Nov 6, 2016 53% 40% 17% ≈1,500
Rasmussen Reports[lower-alpha 2] October 9–12, 2016 52% 46% 6% ≈1,500
Fox News[lower-alpha 3] October 3–6, 2016 52% 47% 5% 1,006
CBS News September 28 – October 2, 2016 55% 38% 17% 1,501
CNN/ORC September 28 – October 2, 2016 55% 44% 11% 1,501
ABC News/The Washington Post September 19–22, 2016 55% 41% 14% 1,001
NBC/The Wall Street Journal[lower-alpha 4] September 16–19, 2016 52% 45% 7% 1,000
Quinnipiac University August 18–24, 2016 54% 44% 10% 1,498
Pew Research Center August 9–16, 2016 53% 42% 11% 2,010
Bloomberg Politics[lower-alpha 5] August 5–8, 2016 50% 44% 6% 1,007

Historical comparison

Historical Gallup Poll approval highs and lows for each President since 1937:[5][lower-alpha 6]

Order President Highest Approval Lowest Approval High–Low Highest Disapproval Approval Average[5]
44[6] Obama 69 (1/24/09) 37 (8/20/11), (9/1/14) 32 57 (9/4/2014) 48.0[7]
43[8] Bush (G.W.) 90 (9/21/01) 19 (10/3/08) 71 71 (10/10/08) 49.4
42[9] Clinton 73 (12/19/98) 36 (5/26/93) 36 54 (9/7/94) 55.1
41[10] Bush (G.H.W.) 89 (2/28/91) 29 (7/31/92) 60 60 (7/31/92) 60.9
40[11] Reagan 68 (5/16/86) 35 (1/28/83) 33 56 (1/28/83) 52.8
39[12] Carter 75 (3/18/77) 28 (6/29/79) 47 59 (6/29/79) 45.5
38[13] Ford 71 (8/16/74) 37 (3/28/75) 34 46 (4/18/75, 11/21/75) 47.2
37[14] Nixon 67 (1/26/73) 24 (8/2/74) 43 66 (8/2/74) 49.1
36[15] Johnson 79 (2/28/64) 35 (8/7/68) 44 52 (8/7/68, 3/10/68) 55.1
35[16] Kennedy 83 (3/8/62) 56 (9/12/63) 27 30 (9/12/63, 11/8/63) 70.1
34[17] Eisenhower 79 (12/14/56) 48 (3/27/58) 31 36 (3/27/58) 65.0
33[18] Truman 87 (6/1/45) 22 (2/9/52) 65 67 (1/6/52) 45.4
32[19] Franklin D. Roosevelt 84 (1/8/42) 48 (8/18/39) 36 46 (5/22/38, 5/29/38, 11/7/38) 63

Graphs

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

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ Rolling 3-day average.
  2. ↑ Rolling 3-day average of 500 likely voters each day.
  3. ↑ Conducted by Anderson Robbins Research (D) and Shaw & Company Research (R).
  4. ↑ Conducted by the polling organizations of Peter D. Hart (D) and Bill McInturff (R).
  5. ↑ Conducted by Selzer and Co.
  6. ↑ Only the results of Gallup polls are included, as no other poll results exist for presidents before President Clinton.

References

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