Approval Ratings Suggest Defeat

No modern sitting President has been re-elected with job approval ratings as low as those posted by President Bush, whose approval rating hit 47 percent last week according to USA Today/Gallup. Bush's father had an approval rating of 56 percent when he was defeated by Clinton. Only two presidents have been re-elected in the past 44 years, both with ratings in the 60s, although high approval ratings tend to predict that Vice Presidents will prevail over their opponents. Historical Approval Charts