Other Crap

Presidential Approval Ratings -- Barack Obama is second-lowest of all time for February of second year in office.

That's not as bad as it sounds. The one guy who was lower was Ronald Reagan. As you know, the Gipper was re-elected and went on to be quite popular. Reagan averaged 55% approval in his second term, a figure bested only by Ike (60.5) and Clinton (60.6). Reagan and Clinton are the only two presidents to achieve a higher average approval rating in their second term than in their first. Ike dropped, but only from extremely popular to very popular.

Another possible way to spin Obama's rating positively is that Obama has never dropped below 47%. Every president has dropped lower than that except Ike and JFK. (Kennedy never dropped below 56%.) But then again, Obama has plenty of time left to really screw up!

For the record, five Presidents managed to get down into the twenties: Truman (22), Nixon (24), Bush II (25), Carter (28) and Bush I (29). Bush the Younger and Truman had the largest drops. Truman dropped from 87% in his first year to 22% in his last full year. Bush also dropped 65 points. In his first year of office he reached 90%. In his last full year, just before Obama's election, Bush had dropped to 25%!

Truman and Bush II needed a long time to pull that off, 7 and 8 years respectively. Bush's dad almost managed the same thing in a year and a half. He dropped from 89% in February 1991 to 29% in July of 1992. Truman and both Bushes cratered just in time for Presidential elections which would put the other party in power.