January 29, 2016 11:59 AM
President Obama
The public’s grade of President Obama’s job approval (as found by Gallup 1/24) is 48% approval/47% disapproval. Obama’s approval rating at the time of his first inauguration was 67% approval/14% disapproval. [Gallup]| Date | NBC/WSJ | WP/ABC | CNN/ORC | NYT/CBS | FOX |
| January 2016 | 47/49% | 50/46% | xxx | 46/47% | 42/53% |
| December 2015 | 43/51% | xxx | 47/52% | 44/48% | 43/51% |
| November 2015 | xxx | 46/50% | xxx | 42/47% (CBS) | 40/54% |
| October 2015 | 45/49% | 51/45% | 46/51% | 45/46% (CBS) | 42/53% |
| September 2015 | 47/47% | 47/49% | 44/50% | xxx | 44/50% |
| Mar. 2015 | 46/50% | 46/49% | 46/51% | 45/46% (CBS) | 45/50% |
| Jan. 2015 | 46/48% | 47/48% | xxx | xxx | 45/51% |
| Jan. 2014 | 43/51% | 45/52% | 45/51% | 46/47% (CBS) | 42/53% |
| Jan. 2013 | 52/44% | 55/41% | 55/43% | 51/41% | xxx |
| Approve | Disapprove - Beginning of last year of second term | |
| Eisenhower | 66 | 19 (1/11/60) |
| Clinton | 63 | 35 (1/10/00) |
| Reagan | 49 | 40 (1/25/88) |
| Obama | 47 | 48 (1/20/16) |
| GW Bush | 32 | 64 (1/4/08) |
Americans are negative about how Obama is handling the following six issues.
| Approve | Disapprove | |
| Foreign Policy | 34 | 52 |
| Economy | 45 | 49 |
| Terrorism | 40 | 54 |
| Health care | 43 | 54 |
| Immigration | 37 | 55 |
| Gun policy | 43 | 52 |
| [NYT/CBS 1/10/16] | ||
| Positive | Negative | |
| Bill Clinton | 45 | 36 |
| Hillary Clinton | 40 | 49 |
| Bernie Sanders | 38 | 31 |
| George W Bush | 37 | 43 |
| Mario Rubio | 31 | 29 |
| Ted Cruz | 31 | 36 |
| Ben Carson | 30 | 35 |
| Donald Trump | 29 | 58 |
| Chris Christie | 24 | 36 |
| Jeb Bush | 19 | 46 |
| [NBC/WSJ 1/13/16] | ||
Starting with Eisenhower, the two Presidents who have had the highest approval ratings were George H. W. Bush – 89% -- and George W Bush – 86%. The only other President who broke 80% was John Kennedy.
George H. W. Bush’s high point came when the U.S. freed Kuwait, and for George W. Bush, it was 9/11.
The spread between the high and low for G. W. Bush was 62 points, and between the high and low for G. H. W. Bush was 60 points.
The following is a list of the high and low approval ratings for each President starting with Eisenhower.
Obama 64/41 - GW Bush 86/22 - GHW Bush 89/29 - Clinton 71/38 Reagan 68/35 - Carter 75/28 - Ford 71/37 - Nixon 68/24 - Johnson 79/35 Kennedy 82/56 - Eisenhower 79/48. [Pew Research Center 1/12/16]
