According to a new Gallup survey, President Obama’s job approval rating averaged 45.9 percent during his 13th quarter in office. (The dates for the 13th quarter cover January 20 to April 19 of the re-election year.)
On the plus side, this shows improvement for the president for the second consecutive quarter and places his rating back to where it was before last summer and fall. On the downside, all presidents since Dwight Eisenhower who were re-elected enjoyed average approval ratings above 50 percent during their 13th quarters in office. In fact, Obama’s approval ratings are below (at a comparable period in their presidencies), those of Eisenhower, Nixon, Carter, Reagan, Clinton, and George W. Bush. Only George H.W. Bush had a lower approval rating (41.8 percent). Even Jimmy Carter’s approval rating in his 13th quarter in office (47.7 percent) exceeds Obama’s. Presidents Carter and George H.W. Bush are the only presidents since Eisenhower to have a sub-50 percent rating during their 13th quarter in office – and both men were easily defeated.
