In the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
, presidential job approval ratings were first conducted by
George Gallup
George Horace Gallup (November 18, 1901 – July 26, 1984) was an American pioneer of survey sampling techniques and inventor of the Gallup poll, a successful statistical method of survey sampling for measuring public opinion.
Life and caree ...
(estimated to be 1937) to gauge public support for the
president of the United States
The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States of America. The president directs the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United Stat ...
during their term. An approval rating is a percentage determined by polling which indicates the percentage of respondents to an opinion poll who approve of a particular person or program. Typically, an approval rating is given to a
politician
A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking, a ...
based on responses to a poll in which a sample of people are asked whether they approve or disapprove of that particular political figure. A question might ask: "Do you approve or disapprove of the way that the current president is handling their job as president?"
Like most surveys that measure opinions, individual poll results may be inaccurate. Many unscientific approval rating systems exist that show inaccurate statistics. Examples that self select, such as online questions are of this type; however, the aggregate approval rating is generally accepted by statisticians as a statistically valid indicator of the comparative changes in the popular United States mood regarding a president.
George W. Bush registered a 90% job approval rating (the highest in Gallup's tracking) shortly after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. Harry Truman registered a 22% job approval rating (the lowest in Gallup's tracking) in a Feb. 9-14, 1952, Gallup poll.
[Jones, J. (2022). Who had the lowest Gallup presidential job approval rating? Gallup. Retrieved fro]
Who Had the Lowest Gallup Presidential Job Approval Rating?
/ref>
President Joe Biden's approval ratings
Historical Gallup polling comparison
Approval at the beginning of the presidency
Graphs
File:Gallup Poll-Approval Rating-Franklin D Roosevelt.png, Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin Delano Roosevelt (; ; January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), often referred to by his initials FDR, was an American politician and attorney who served as the 32nd president of the United States from 1933 until his death in 1945. As the ...
File:Gallup Poll-Approval Rating-Harry S Truman.png, Harry S. Truman
Harry S. Truman (May 8, 1884December 26, 1972) was the 33rd president of the United States, serving from 1945 to 1953. A leader of the Democratic Party, he previously served as the 34th vice president from January to April 1945 under Franklin ...
File:Gallup Poll-Approval Rating-Dwight D Eisenhower.png, Dwight D. Eisenhower
Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower (born David Dwight Eisenhower; ; October 14, 1890 – March 28, 1969) was an American military officer and statesman who served as the 34th president of the United States from 1953 to 1961. During World War II, ...
File:Gallup Poll-Approval Rating-John F Kennedy.png, John F. Kennedy
John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), often referred to by his initials JFK and the nickname Jack, was an American politician who served as the 35th president of the United States from 1961 until his assassination ...
File:Gallup Poll-Approval Rating-Lyndon B Johnson.png, Lyndon B. Johnson
Lyndon Baines Johnson (; August 27, 1908January 22, 1973), often referred to by his initials LBJ, was an American politician who served as the 36th president of the United States from 1963 to 1969. He had previously served as the 37th vice ...
File:Gallup Poll-Approval Rating-Richard Nixon.png, Richard Nixon
Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as a representative and senator from California and was ...
File:Galup Poll-Approval Rating-Gerald Ford.png, Gerald Ford
Gerald Rudolph Ford Jr. ( ; born Leslie Lynch King Jr.; July 14, 1913December 26, 2006) was an American politician who served as the 38th president of the United States from 1974 to 1977. He was the only president never to have been elected ...
File:Gallup Poll-Approval Rating-Jimmy Carter.png, Jimmy Carter
James Earl Carter Jr. (born October 1, 1924) is an American politician who served as the 39th president of the United States from 1977 to 1981. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, he previously served as th ...
File:Gallup Poll-Approval Rating-Ronald Reagan.png, Ronald Reagan
Ronald Wilson Reagan ( ; February 6, 1911June 5, 2004) was an American politician, actor, and union leader who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He also served as the 33rd governor of California from 1967 ...
File:Gallup Poll-Approval Rating-George H W Bush.png, George H. W. Bush
George Herbert Walker BushSince around 2000, he has been usually called George H. W. Bush, Bush Senior, Bush 41 or Bush the Elder to distinguish him from his eldest son, George W. Bush, who served as the 43rd president from 2001 to 2009; pr ...
File:Galup Poll-Approval Rating-Bill Clinton.png, Bill Clinton
William Jefferson Clinton ( né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He previously served as governor of Arkansas from 1979 to 1981 and agai ...
File:Gallup Poll-Approval Rating-George W Bush.png, George W. Bush
George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Republican Party, Bush family, and son of the 41st president George H. W. Bush, he ...
File:Gallup Poll-Approval Rating-Barack Obama.svg, Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the U ...
File:Gallup Poll-Approval Rating-Donald Trump.svg, Donald Trump
Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021.
Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of Pe ...
File:Joe Biden presidential approval rating Gallup.png, Joe Biden
See also
* Historical rankings of presidents of the United States
In political studies, surveys have been conducted in order to construct historical rankings of the success of the presidents of the United States. Ranking systems are usually based on surveys of academic historians and political scientists or p ...
* Opinion polling on the Donald Trump administration This article summarizes the results of polls taken during the presidency of Donald Trump which gather and analyze public opinion on his administration's performance and policies.
Graphical summary
Job approval ratings
Aggregate polls
Poll ...
* Opinion polling on the Ronald Reagan administration
Since 1981, there has been opinion polling on the Ronald Reagan administration to gather and analyze public opinion on the performance and policies of the Ronald Reagan administration.
After becoming president on January 20, 1981, Reagan survive ...
Notes
References
External links
"Historical Presidential Job Performance Ratings"
Roper Center.
"Trump approval ratings"
. FiveThirtyEight.
"Midterm Presidential Approval Ratings"
. Data360.
"President Job Approval Ratings"
PresidentPollsUSA.
''The Wall Street Journal''.
"President Obama's Ongoing Job Approval"
(CongressRatings)
{{DEFAULTSORT:United States Presidential Approval Rating
presidential approval rating
presidential approval rating
Historical rankings of public figures
Rating