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Obama's Approval Ratings Higher than Reagan's Were at This Point in
First Term

Posted by Lucy Madison
October 26, 2010 2:37 PM

President Obama may not be the most popular man on the campaign trail
at the moment, but the president is still faring better in the polls
than Ronald Reagan was during this stage of his first term, the
National Journal reports.

According to a new study by the Society for Human Resource
Management/National Journal Congressional Connection Poll (which was
conducted with the Pew Research Center), 47 percent of Americans would
like to see Mr. Obama run for re-election in 2012.

The figure, though short of a majority, is significantly higher than
Mr. Reagan's 36 percent rating on the same question in August 1982 -
just months before his own party lost 26 House seats (but gained a
Senate seat) in the midterm elections.

In an analysis of the poll, National Journal points out not only that
Mr. Reagan was re-elected to his second term by a wide margin, but
that the circumstances dictating his first term are not unlike those
that Mr. Obama has faced over the past two years.

National Journal's Jason Dick points out:

    "Both were elected during difficult economic times and succeeded
unpopular presidents. Both came promising to change the way things
were done in Washington. Both saw their footings slip and their
ratings sag as the economies of their times suffered devastating
recessions." 

Indeed, unemployment rates in 1982 hovered at 9.7 percent - a tenth of
a percent higher than the current national levels.

Ultimately, history seems to show that a president's popularity level
two years into his first term is not a strong indicator of his
re-election prospects: The Journal reports that former presidents
George H. W. Bush and Jimmy Carter - both of whom lost re-election
bids - enjoyed higher ratings than Mr. Reagan in the months leading up
to the midterms.

The poll also says that 51 percent of voters likely to vote in next
week's elections support the full repeal of health care reform, in the
event that Republicans win a majority in the House and/or Senate.