Friday, September 7, 2018

A little historical prospective, fwiw. At this point in his presidency Donal Trump is no longer the "most unpopular".

I'm not saying that should mean anything.  I think he's in really serious trouble.  But here are the details:

How unpopular is Donald Trump?

He has, on this chart, a 53.6% disapproval rating.  That's actually not that abnormal. By this time in their presidency's, most Presidents have more people disapproving of their performance than approving (which probably says something about as a people).

Compared to past Presidents, Trump isn't doing as horrible as some at this point in his presidency.  Consider:

George W. Bush:  60.9% disapproval

George H. W. Bush, 74.1% disapproval.

Richard Nixon:  54.8% disapproval.

Lyndon B. Johnson:  66% disapproval.

John F. Kennedy:  67.8% disapproval.

Dwight Eisenhower:  62.7% disapproval.

That would suggest that Trump is doing better in public opinion that the news might suggest, in spite of everything going on.  These are all figures from mid point in Presidential terms, except in the case of LBJ's for obvious reasons.  Consider that this didn't hinder the ultimate reelection of some of the names mentioned above.

So who was doing really well in these figures at the same point? Well, Obama, Truman, Clinton, Ford and Carter, all of whom were pulling about even in likes and dislikes.

Of interest to me, some of the Presidents I'd regard as quite successful, such as at least Eisenhower, were pulling down poor figures at this point.  I'd regard Truman as a successful President as well, and he was actually doing better than any of the other figures considered.  Ford wasn't a good President in my view nor was Carter, but in terms of public opinion,. they were doing okay.

Nixon, whose final troubles are now becoming frighteningly reminiscent of current times, is always tainted by those final troubles, but he did secure reelection to a second term.  The figures here would have been from 1970 at which time he was half way through his first term and Democrats who had gotten us into Vietnam were raging against the war and the American public was discontent with it.  We woudln't get out until 73, but that was in fact in Nixon's second term.  Probably dissatisfaction was due to his handling of the war which was problematic.


No comments: