By: E&P Staff Welcome back, Carter? For decades, Jimmy Carter has been maligned as a profoundly unpopular president. But now, according to the latest from Gallup, George W. Bush, based on an average of recent polls, has nearly reached that low level and may soon pass Carter on the way down.
Gallup average presidents approval ratings for each quarter of their terms. For the most recent three-month period, Bush scored a 31.8%, his worst yet. Carter's weakest score was 30.7, in the second-quarter of 1979.
Gallup notes that this is Bush's 26h quarter as president, and "not all presidents who served that long suffered low approval ratings. Dwight Eisenhower and Bill Clinton had averages near 60% during their 26th quarters in office, and Ronald Reagan's was just below 50%."
Gallup adds: "Bush's current string of sub-40% quarters exceeds the five Richard Nixon had leading up to his resignation from the Oval Office because of the Watergate scandal....
"Since 1945, Gallup has collected data on 247 presidential quarters. Bush's most recent quarter ties for 234th, putting it in the bottom 5% of all measurements."
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