Final poll before Obama takes office: Bush approval rating at 22%

[yourguide]

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/01/16/opinion/polls/main4728399.shtml?tag=topHome;topStories

(CBS) President Bush will leave office as one of the most unpopular departing presidents in history, according to a new CBS News/New York Times poll showing Mr. Bush's final approval rating at 22 percent.

Seventy-three percent say they disapprove of the way Mr. Bush has handled his job as president over the last eight years.

Mr. Bush's final approval rating is the lowest final rating for an outgoing president since Gallup began asking about presidential approval more than 70 years ago.

The rating is far below the final ratings of recent two-term presidents Bill Clinton and Ronald Reagan, who both ended their terms with a 68 percent approval rating, according to CBS News polling.

Recent one term presidents also had higher ratings than Mr. Bush. His father George H.W. Bush had an end-of-term rating of 54 percent, while Jimmy Carter's rating was 44 percent.

Harry Truman had previously had the lowest end-of-term approval at 32 percent, as measured by Gallup.

Views of Mr. Bush's popularity are highly partisan. Only 6 percent of Democrats approve of the job he has done as president, while 57 percent of Republicans approve. Eighteen percent of independents approve.

Interestingly, Mr. Bush also has the distinction of having the highest approval rating for a president, as well as the lowest.

In November 2008, just before the presidential election, only 20 percent approved of the job he was doing as president - the lowest of any president since Gallup began asking the question in 1938.

But Mr. Bush enjoyed a high approval rating of 90 percent -- the highest of any president -- following the Sept. 11 attacks in 2001.

Mr. Bush edged out his father for that highest rating. George H.W. Bush received an 88 percent approval rating in 1991 amid the success of the first Gulf War.

Truman comes closest to Mr. Bush's record low approval rating of 20 percent. In February 1952, just 22 percent of Americans approved of the job Truman was doing as president.

More at the link...

[NRaleighLiberal]

1. Never has a popularity rating been so deserved! He earned every lack of percentages!

[yourguide]

3. even truman and nixon beat him...now THATS bad.

[DrDan]

2. I wonder where he ranks in terms of World leaders -

We know he is at - or near - rock bottom of U.S. Presidents.

[onehandle]

4. Gallup's final poll has him at 34%. I wonder which one will be quoted down the road? nt

[PADemD]

5. Seventeen per cent good to very good.

"Twelve percent say he has been a good president, and only 5 percent say he has been a very good president."