Clinton Approval Ratings

[mark414]

does anyone know what Clinton's lowest ever approval rating was and when?

[Jmeyers130]

1. don't know that

but I do know it was high 60's up into the 70's even during the whole impeachment process.

[jobycom]

10. That was after people stopped listening to the media

The media blasted Clinton continuously. Every press conference started out with "Why can't you shake these womanizing allegations?" or "draft-dodging allegations." It was so bad that audiences would boo reporters for asking the same questions over and over. Early in his administration, Clinton quit holding press conferences. When he nominated Ruth Bader Ginsburg, he made a great speech about her qualifications, but the first question the media asked him was something like "Is this an attempt to overcome your negative image with women because of your womanizing." (I don't remember the exact question.) Clinton said something like "After the credentials I just read for this judge, you would ask something like that?" and he walked off stage.

By 1996 the American people began to see through the media's slander job, probably because the economy was booming, and his approval ratings shot up. The media softened a little on him, mostly because they were afraid if they kept slandering him they would lose the rest of their audience. But even during impeachment they hammed up the allegations against him, uncritically reporting the Republican slanders while questioning every assertion Democrats made. The whole impeachment case was blatantly illegal and unconstitutional, yet the media treated it as legitimate, which allowed it to proceed. Americans saw through that, and Clinton's numbers remained high, largely as a protest against the impeachment, and against the media and the Republicans for not listening to them.

[Darkseid69]

2. 46 percent

http://www.ipr.uc.edu/PDF/OhioPoll/prezapp_021804_Final.pdf

Presidents Reagan and Clinton dipped below the 50 percent approval line multiple times during their presidencies. President Reagan’s lowest approval rating (46%) was recorded in December 1982.
President Clinton’s lowest approval rating (45%) was recorded in September 1994.

[jobycom]

5. That's only Ohio. n

[jobycom]

3. It was 38% in 1994.

I don't know if it went lower. At the time, they were saying it was the lowest rating of a president since Reagan's 32% in his second year.

[Jacobin]

4. Here ya go

On edit: Graph is not up to date on Bush II, but it answers the question about President Clinton's approval ratings.

[supercrash]

6. Ummm

That chart has Jr. at 50% for his lowest.

Check out that Nixon slide...Yowzer ..for some reason he just couln't break the 24% barrier Hehe

[Jacobin]

9. Its not current for Bush II, because he hasn't finished his term

see my edit.

It does show the previous president's high and lows and Smirky's through about last December

[Gasolinedream]

11. People...

really did like Ike, didn't they!?

[beyurslf]

7. Lowest was 37 in June of 1993.

By election year he was over 50. Starting in 1997, he never went below 50 and stayed in the 60's most of the time. Peaked in the low 70s during the end of 1998. He was in the 40's during the 94 election season.

<http://roperweb.ropercenter.uconn.edu/cgi-bin/hsrun.exe/Roperweb/PresJobRatings40/StateId/CU3zBA8RZvgaUH3rcqgJVDePYPZl3-3oKb/HAHTpage/HS_presapproval_home_fH>

[jobycom]

8. Another source saying 37%

http://www.cookpolitical.com/column/1999/061299.php

From mid-March to early May, eight Gallup polls showed Clinton's approval ratings dropping down into the 59 percent to 64 percent range. A May 23-24 poll showed it dropping even more, down to 53 percent, with 42 percent disapproving of his job performance. These were Clinton's worst numbers in the Gallup Poll since August 1996. His lowest approval rating came early in his first term, in June 1993, when only 37 percent approved of his performance, while 49 percent disapproved. In early September 1994, his disapproval rating climbed to 54 percent. Presidents with job-approval ratings below 50 percent tend to fall into the Rodney Dangerfield zone: They get no respect from political opponents, the media, or even other members of their own party.