Obama #1, GWB #2

[Phier]

A plurality of voters think Barack Obama is the worst president since World War II, a new poll says.

According to a Quinnipiac University poll released Wednesday, 33 percent of voters think the current president is the worst since 1945.



Obama’s predecessor, former President George W. Bush, came in at second-worst with 28 percent, and Richard Nixon was in third place with 13 percent of the vote. After Jimmy Carter, who 8 percent of voters said was the worst president in the time period, no other president received more than 3 percent.

The Quinnipiac poll reported more bad news about the president’s approval and competency ratings. Forty percent of voters approve of the job Obama is doing, compared with 53 percent who disapprove. Fifty-four percent of voters say the Obama administration is not competent at running the government.

Now I'm going to guess this poll was biased in that a majority of them were probably too young for anything pre-Reagan. (I was in single digits myself for Carters presidency) but I think this shows just how unhappy with Obama a large portion of the public is.

I do find the idea that 53% of the voters disapprove of the job Obama has been doing, being thats about the % who actually pay Federal Income taxes, and yes I realize that its just a coincidence but it still made me chuckle.

But after a horrible day at work dealing with some complete entitled idiots, it was nice to hear this on the way home and think that at least a small majority of Americans realize what a cluster these last 8 years have been.

I am expecting Europeans who think they know US politics from across the pond and US liberals in denial to have a different take on this below.

Edit: Forgot link.
http://www.politico.com/story/2014/0...ii-108507.html

[removeduser_487563287433]

Key being plurality. So what does this really show us? It shows us the middle ground in American politics has been on the retreat for decades and is not slowing down. Obama is the most divisive president ever. And dubya second most. And Clinton third most.

http://www.vox.com/2015/2/16/8046077...larizing-chart

So with this trend Obama's successor will be the next worst president EVAR. It really is quite meaningless: look into the detail of your own poll and you'll see that Obama has an approval rate of 80% among democratic respondents - Putin doesn't have that.

[alhoon]

Key being plurality. So what does this really show us? It shows us the middle ground in American politics has been on the retreat for decades and is not slowing down. Obama is the most divisive president ever. And dubya second most. And Clinton third most.

Not really. While Obama gets a strong 8% voting him best and a strong 33% voting him worst, making him indeed divisive, GWB gets a petty 1% as best while 28% as worst, making him universally shunned or overlooked by leftwings, rightwings, conservatives or progressives. He's not divisive at all. He universally considered not-good to terrible.

[removeduser_487563287433]

Not really. While Obama gets a strong 8% voting him best and a strong 33% voting him worst, making him indeed divisive, GWB gets a petty 1% as best while 28% as worst, making him universally shunned or overlooked by leftwings, rightwings, conservatives or progressives. He's not divisive at all. He universally considered not-good to terrible.

I did post the source backing me up.

[Chukada1]

This just in 33% of Americans are being told what to think about the president 24/7 on Fox News.

More on this story at 11.

[Sphere]

An approval rating of 47% is quite good by American political standards. For perspective Reagan had about the same rating in his 6th year. While at this point in GWB's presidency it was in the low 30's and would be on its way to that 25% in his last year.

It is a stat which generally reflects the economy, and right now the US economy is humming. The upward trend in the economy for the second half of 2014 is the probably best explanation of why the current polls shows an improvement for the President compared to the July poll posted by the OP.

I find it a little odd that you heard this on the way home given it is a 7 month old poll. Where are you getting your news?

[chilon]

Its dubious whether the methodology of this study even makes it statistically valid.

[mrmouth]

Where are you getting your news?

A quick search shows that it is making it rounds in the typical, intellectually challenged places. Newsmax, Politico, etc.

Another one of Newsmax's stories from today. They actually managed to pen this one themselves: Franklin Graham: Obama 'Only Knows Islam,' Gives It a Pass



Quinnipac polls a lot. Conservative media loves them and cheery pick them quite a bit. Looks like they have a significant continuing education program for people out of school for 20+ years. So that probably explains the right-leaning polling to some extent.

[Adar]

This poll is ridiculous and I think you know that Barack Obama is a current issue while everyone else is a part of history. So even if the poll is perfectly executed it won't really tell us much about Obamas work as a president in comparison to previous presidents.

So what we got from the poll is:
A lot of people are angry at Obama.
A lot of people are still angry at Bush Jr.
People remember incidents rather than presidencies (getting shot, Watergate and being attacked by Iranians and/or swamp bunnies).
Ronald Reagan is really popular among conservatives.
Bill Clinton still got a good reputation among (American) liberals.

And this is almost all about statistics and history, not politics.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

But I would be very interested if someone can show that Reagan is a big hit among American liberals or that Clinton is popular among the conservatives.

[snuggans]

According to a Quinnipiac University poll released Wednesday, 33 percent of voters think the current president is the worst since 1945.

i also read today that 30% of voters would blame Obama if the homeland security budget doesn't get passed, so i think we can just assume that there's a 30% that will demonize him no matter what. probably the same people voting for the Tea Party.

[Henry of Grosmont]

The poll has Clinton with 18% of approval. BS enough for me...

Bill Clinton still got a good reputation among (American) liberals.

What merits that is beyond me.

[Kraut]

Be enlighted by those holy Facts I gift you:

Fact 1: the current President/PM/Chancellor/whatever has always a good Chance to be titled "worst since WW2"

Fact 2: while only 4% answered "Don´t Know", a whopping 96% asked "Who is this Gerald Ford, anyway?"

[Adar]

Be enlighted by those holy Facts I gift you:

Fact 1: the current President/PM/Chancellor/whatever has always a good Chance to be titled "worst since WW2"

Fact 2: while only 4% answered "Don´t Know", a whopping 96% asked "Who is this Gerald Ford, anyway?"

Gerald Ford must be the greatest. That is why they named their aircraft carriers after him, right?

[Condottiere 40K]

Only the current occupant of the Oval Office still can execute policy, which makes him the lightning rod for the disgruntled.

Though W himself observed that history will have to judge his presidency.
964

[Enros]

Ronald Reagan was the guy who hired a psychic to help him manage his time after he was shot right?

[Roma_Victrix]

How did Nixon even get 1% in the "Best" category? This sample seems a bit dubious for that reason alone. However, it does seem pretty accurate in that people have short memories (either that or all the old people are dying off), so that presidents who were largely disliked when they were still acting president see their favorability numbers rise over time as people tend to forget the negative things about them. Look at Clinton's negatives! It's almost nonexistent. I guarantee you he'd have way more in the "worst" category if this poll was taken in the year 1999. This poll is also silly for not including all the presidents throughout US history, because clearly Andrew Johnson was the absolute worst president, by any standard really, as he earned the ire of both ends of the spectrum for bungled policies and would have been impeached if not for a single vote in the Senate that saved him. Mind you, he didn't put the United States into serious debt with overseas military ventures like George W. Bush, but overall he was way worse than the latter.

On a side note, I thought George H.W. Bush wasn't a bad president at all, and I'm glad the poll reflects that.

[I WUB PUGS]

How did Nixon even get 1% in the "Best" category? This sample seems a bit dubious for that reason alone.

<-Nixon fan.

[Roma_Victrix]

<-Nixon fan.

Surely there's a difference between being a fan and considering him the "best" president of all time. Despite Watergate, the Pentagon Papers, and Nixon's deep paranoia and wiretapping violations the guy wasn't a terrible president when it came to foreign policy (such as opening relations with China) and even some domestic policy (people tend to forget he established the Environmental Protection Agency). However, that hardly qualifies him as the "best" president ever, of all time, surpassing all others in achievement. I can't believe anyone would have the nerve to stand him up against the likes of George Washington, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, Andrew Jackson, Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, or Franklin Roosevelt.

[Cyclops]

...George Washington, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, Andrew Jackson, Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, or Franklin Roosevelt.

Seen from the southern hemisphere the first four were minor figures as far as wielding power goes: their decisions had important effects in a butterfly-wing sort of way, but it was a small game by part-timers back then. They didn't fix the federal problem, although it may be they hadn't seen it yet.

Lincoln ripped his country apart and put it together again: he seems to have been an extremely adept politician and ruthless when it came to breaking the constitution and killing fellow citizens. He's my uninformed pick for "best" (most competent) president of the USA. T Roosevelt seems to have been the same sort as the first four, hometown heroes and perhaps able in his own way (honest and bullet-proof to boot) but by no means a colossus on the world stage (or much of a gamechanger). FDR started out as an insular pork-barrelling populist who stumbled into world leadership, and had enough character not to drop his bundle. He held more power in one hand than the others combined so the mistakes are bigger, but so are his massive successes. he managed to say across a world war when other presidents can't manage a regional one.

Nixon like Lincoln and FDR got things done. He inherited a stupid war and some rusted-on foreign policy that made no sense at all, and he fixed both. He may have been insane and/or a total crook but you can often judge a president's competency by the amount of crap hurled at him and how long the barrage lasts after he goes. Clinton is still reviled, more than Big Oil's bete noire Carter because he was a genuine challenge and an able man.

Obama may be copping stick for now but frankly he's an average president who owes his second term to the Republican's staggering stupidity under Bush II: I think the hoo-ha will die down once he's gone. Every president gets demonised as part of the publicity wars that dominate US politics since the gangster got his horny son elected.

Cheney's puppet is the exception, he really was hopeless.

[conon394]

You can find the original questions and results directly here

http://www.quinnipiac.edu/images/pol...14_U73jabn.pdf

And of course as always its design is perfect to produce a flashy graphic to amuse Phier but provides little real information.

Take the last two questions on Obama care.

Do you support or oppose the health care law passed by Barack Obama and Congress in 2010 (same question with two different data breakdowns).

But stunningly useless.

The first question should be do you support a National health care system. Followed by...Would have supported the French system of National health care - widely regarded as the best in the industrialized world. Are you aware of how health outcomes in France are better than comparable statistics from the US - in very much every statistic. Are you aware that French Doctors still make house calls?(*). Are you aware of how much more than by % GDP the US pays for health care than any nation in the EU but still has uninsured people, and poorer outcomes. Did you know the Republicans have purposely refused to allow Medicare to negotiate for lower drug prices but the VA can? Do know what means since all of Europe does so we are more or less are subsidizing the rest of the First World - kind of Like NATO. Germans live fat and happy with cheap drugs and a hardly functional military why we foot the tab (** yep big Pharma little innovation lots of lobby and lawyers - second link) If nothing else these questions would at least have separated the republican drones from lefty zealots who are still mad at Obama for having failed to wave a magic wand to get the health system they wanted that was never feasible. How about this question who pays when an uninsured person goes to his or her legally mandated right for emergency care? Well first the Hospital of course and the need for collections to try and get blood from a stone but more generally everyone who has insurance. No maybe I don't want the answer becuse I think too many might say no credit report check no service...

* http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/f...ke-house-calls

** http://blog.cahealthadvocates.org/20...es-for-part-d/

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I do find the idea that 53% of the voters disapprove of the job Obama has been doing, being thats about the % who actually pay Federal Income taxes, and yes I realize that its just a coincidence but it still made me chuckle.

I dunno I quite like him and pay federal taxes - quite a bit really. Because I kinda of like the CDC (and the other public health agencies), USDA, FDA, FBI, US military, EPA, Interstate not toll roads, Head Start, Justice Department, Postal Service, Federal management of large parts of the wild about things that states cant really do - be it effective management of rabies or aqueducts or fisheries etc. The Internet, DARPA, but hey let's cut my taxes because well f-it. I think I might be rich enough to an oligarch so hell let's race China to the bottom huh?

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Also short memory does matter

How would the results look if this survey was given when Truman was mired in integrating the military and the 8th army was staggering back in route in Korea? Phier can sneer at Carter but does he than take ownership of Regan's illegal support for a rouges gallery of vile dictators in Central America. Hey who cares right they are just poor brown people.