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Historical Presidential Approval Ratings

End of Term

Also, see current approval rating data as well as July 2004 comprehensive analysis

End-of-presidency job approval ratings are used by some pundits to forecast the odds of a President's being re-elected or getting a voter-initiated pink slip.

A USA Today/Gallup poll (adults, ME3%), taken 9-10 October 2004, showed that 47 percent of American voters approved "of the way George W. Bush is handling his job as president" and 49 percent disapproved.

Compare that with the following chart. His father's approval rating was 56 percent at end-of-term, yet he was a one-term president.

End-of-Presidency Job Approval Ratings
President Rating (%) Election Results
Bill Clinton
(2 terms, D, 2001)		 65 VP Gore (D) wins popular vote but Bush (R) wins electoral college vote
Ronald Reagan
(2 terms, R, 1989)		 64 VP Bush (R) defeats Dukakis (D)
Dwight Eisenhower
(2 terms, R, 1961)		 59 Kennedy (D) defeats Nixon (R)
John F. Kennedy
(partial term, D, 1963)		 63 (VP) Johnson (D) defeats Goldwater (R)
George Bush
(1 term, R, 1993)		 56 Clinton (D) defeats Bush (R)
Gerald Ford
(partial term, R, 1977)		 53 Carter (D) defeats Ford (R)
Lyndon Johnson
(1+ terms, D, 1969)		 49 Nixon (R) defeats Humphrey (Johnson did not run) (D)
Jimmy Carter
(1 term, D, 1981)		 34 Reagan (R) defeats Carter (D)
Richard Nixon
(partial term, R, 1974)		 24 Carter (D) defeats (VP) Ford (R)


Sources:

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