Historical Comparisons
Ever since Gallup first started asking Americans to rate the president in the late 1930s, seven other presidents have experienced a time when a majority of Americans have disapproved of them. Only four presidents never had a disapproval rating over 50%: John F. Kennedy's highest disapproval was 30% about two weeks before his death; Dwight Eisenhower's highest was 36% in March 1958; and both Franklin D. Roosevelt and Gerald Ford scored a 46% disapproval rating as their highest.
* Bill Clinton's highest disapproval rating was 54% in September 1994. In fact, several polls that year found at least 50% of Americans disapproving of Clinton's performance as president.
* In the summer of his re-election bid, 60% of Americans told Gallup they disapproved of the way George H.W. Bush was handling the presidency. Across the 14 polls conducted from May 1992 through October 1992, a majority of Americans expressed disapproval in Bush.
* In January 1983, 56% of Americans said they disapproved of Ronald Reagan. Five polls conducted from December 1982 through February 1983 found at least 50% of Americans disapproving of Reagan.
* Many of the polls conducted in 1979 and 1980 found majority disapproval of Jimmy Carter's performance. His highest disapproval was 59% in June and July 1979.
* Just prior to his resignation as president, 66% of Americans said they disapproved of the way Richard Nixon was handling the presidency.
* In March 1968, Gallup found that 52% of Americans disapproved of Lyndon B. Johnson. Johnson's disapproval ratings were at 50% or higher only four times in his presidency.
* Harry Truman scored the highest disapproval rating in Gallup's history -- 67% -- in January 1952. Truman also scored the lowest approval rating in Gallup's history, 23%, in the same poll.