Obama ranks high among final approval ratings for presidents dating back to FDR

[Dakine10 5,452]

 

Barack Obama leaves office Friday with 6 in 10 Americans approving of his job performance, capping a steady rise that vaults him above the average final mark for modern presidents, a new Washington Post-ABC News poll finds.

 

  https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2017/01/18/obama-climbs-to-60-percent-approval-in-final-presidential-approval-rating-post-abc-poll-finds/?utm_term=.3f2f918d6a29

[OriZ 3,157]

Gosh darn and here I thought America was such a racist country. 

[bcking 3,157]

Fake news! Washington Post is failing, doing so badly, so fake, so biased. Totally fake!

 

Either that or,

 

People just voted that they like him because they don't want to look like they don't like him since he is black. If he were white, people would totally be all over hating him. Totally. So fake.

 

Am I close?

[Transborderwife 4,666]

Everyone knows polls are wrong...it's fixed I tell ya...what a coincidence just days before the inauguration!

[Dakine10 5,452]

6 minutes ago, OriZ said:

Gosh darn and here I thought America was such a racist country. 

[OriZ 3,157]

4 minutes ago, Dakine10 said:

 

Haha I +1 that one myself even though it has nothing to do with what I said.

[Dakine10 5,452]

7 minutes ago, OriZ said:

 

Haha I +1 that one myself even though it has nothing to do with what I said.

   I realize you were joking, but in case someone thinks you were not, that was just a warning not to get distracted. You know how easily topics go sideways on racism here.

[TBoneTX 43,020]

45 minutes ago, Dakine10 said:

One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish...

[ready4ONE 5,400]

[Dashinka 23,207]

15 hours ago, ready4ONE said:

I remember the same thing when Obama took office except it was Bush's face.  Maybe the Daily Show could get some fresh writers rather than rehashing outdated material.

[millefleur 5,035]

Does anyone actually think FDR was that good of a president? I'm not saying he was the worst, but the highest rated ever? Really? FDR seems to be the overrated poster boy for the Dems that Reagan is to the Repubs. And Cllnton, lol? Really? How are Kennedy and Eisenhower lower? I'm baffled. Why is Nixon even listed on a "best" list at all?!

 

This chart confuses me.

 

Edit: "Percent of Americans who approve of each president in poll closest to leaving office"

Oh, maybe that explains it.

Edited January 19, 2017 by millefleur

[Dashinka 23,207]

11 minutes ago, millefleur said:

Does anyone actually think FDR was that good of a president? I'm not saying he was the worst, but the highest rated ever? Really? FDR seems to be the overrated poster boy for the Dems that Reagan is to the Repubs. And Cllnton, lol? Really? How are Kennedy and Eisenhower lower? I'm baffled. Why is Nixon even listed on a "best" list at all?!

 

This chart confuses me.

 

Edit: "Percent of Americans who approve of each president in poll closest to leaving office"

Oh, maybe that explains it.

I know what you mean.  I always love these comparisons and how people get all excited about them. 

[bcking 3,157]

1 hour ago, millefleur said:

Does anyone actually think FDR was that good of a president? I'm not saying he was the worst, but the highest rated ever? Really? FDR seems to be the overrated poster boy for the Dems that Reagan is to the Repubs. And Cllnton, lol? Really? How are Kennedy and Eisenhower lower? I'm baffled. Why is Nixon even listed on a "best" list at all?!

 

This chart confuses me.

 

Edit: "Percent of Americans who approve of each president in poll closest to leaving office"

Oh, maybe that explains it.

Ya I think you can't assume the poll means anything other than what it asked. 

 

To me it would make sense that FDR would have a high approval rating when he "left office". He died in office about a month before WW2 ended. I'm sure a lot of the country "approved" of him by that point.

 

Now how Kennedy does poorly is a little confusing to me. I feel like in general the poll should be invalidated for Presidents who died in office. Comparing the last poll about them to Presidents who left office is a little like apples to oranges (or at least different varieties of apples). I guess if the poll for Kennedy was "closest to being assassinated" but NOT after being assassinated, you can see why it may not be that high. At the time of the poll, people didn't know he was going to be shot and killed so it was easier to think about maybe some of the not so perfect things he did. I'm not familar with what the public knew about FDR and his declining health but just before dying he went to the Yalta conference which would have easily been seen as a "high point" since it was clear by that point that the allies were going to win.

 

So I would probably take FDR and Kennedy out of the list completed. That would make Obama 3rd. Not bad. Of course this isn't saying "Obama was the third best President since FDR". It is merely saying that at the time of leaving, Obama is approved of by more people than every other President since FDR except for Clinton and Reagan. Approval rating at the end of a Presidential term I think can be influenced by a lot more than just "how good was he". I think the incoming President-elect can influence it as well. Not to mention there is likely a greater focus on things done very recently, as opposed to assessments of "best Presidents" that try to think of the entire period of the Presidency as a whole.

Edited January 19, 2017 by bcking

[The Nature Boy 7,659]

Its got to be right it's a poll and they were dead on during the last election cycle

[Amica Nostra 4,803]

6 minutes ago, Nature Boy Flair said:

Its got to be right it's a poll and they were dead on during the last election cycle

I am a numbers guy and I need to correct you. The state polls were wrong. The National polls use a different method and have a greater margin of error and volatility.  The National polls were within 1 % of the actual popular vote. 

 

This is not a political statement, just a fact about numbers.