Obama Less Popular Than Bush After First Month in Office

By Noel Sheppard
February 24, 2009 - 22:51 ET
from News Busters

As Obama-loving media gush and swoon while they report the new President's popularity, an inconvenient truth emerged Tuesday that seems destined to get ignored: after one month in office, George W. Bush was more popular than the current White House occupant.

Impossible, you say?

Well, before Obama stepped in front of Congress this evening, Gallup published the following:

For the first time since Gallup began tracking Barack Obama's presidential job approval rating on Jan. 21, fewer than 60% of Americans approve of the job he is doing as president. In Feb. 21-23 polling, 59% of Americans give Obama a positive review, while 25% say they disapprove, and 16% have no opinion.

Almost exactly eight years ago, then newly-elected President Bush's numbers were 62 percent
approving his performance, 21 percent disapproving, and 17 percent having no opinion (scroll about 3/4 down this Polling Report link).

As such, regardless of how hard media are working to foster this view that this is the most popular president in the modern era, such is not the case.

In fact, even ABC's director of polling reported Tuesday that Obama's current numbers are actually quite average with George H. W. Bush, John F. Kennedy, and even Jimmy Carter being more popular after just a month in the White House.

I somehow doubt this will get a lot of attention from the teeming hordes of press members who worked so diligently to get him elected.
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