Ronald Reagan's Gallup Approval Sunk To 35%, Unemployment Over 10%, Yet He Is Idolized By GOP?

[TomCADem]

It must have been such a luxury not to have a 24 hour cable news cycle under Reagan or his Presidency would have been deemed a failure within the first year of his Presidency. Unemployment topped 10 percent. Approval ratings fell to 35%. The deficit exploded due to tax cuts benefitting the wealthy. Yet, Republicans hold him up as the gold standard of Presidents. Compared to Reagan, President Obama walks on water, because the situation that President Obama inheritted is much worse than Reagan's since unemployment did not start dropping until several months into Reagan's first year.

Here is the "liberal" NY Times putting a positive spin on Reagan's comeback from a 35% approval rating back in 1983.

http://www.nytimes.com/1983/03/17/us/gallup-poll-finds-rise-in-approval-of-reagan.html

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Gallup Poll Finds Rise In Approval of Reagan

Public approval of President Reagan's handling of his job increased significantly last month for the first time in more than a year, according to the Gallup Poll. Key factors in the rise were enhanced support of Mr. Reagan from Republicans and independents.

Forty percent of the public approved of his job performance in a poll conducted from Feb. 25 to 28, up from 35 percent in January. The last time that the Gallup Poll measured an increase of more than one percentage point was in October 1981, when approval of Mr. Reagan rose to 56 percent from 52 percent the month before. These polls have a margin of sampling error of three percentage points.

There was some indication in the poll that belief that the economy was improving helped Mr. Reagan's standing. Two-thirds of those who approved, but only one-sixth of those who disapproved

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And here is Gallup's historical review of Reagan. Oddly, due to the Republicans continuing efforts to place Reagan on a pedastal, Reagan's approval rating has grown higher after his Presidency than during it:

http://www.gallup.com/poll/11887/ronald-reagan-from-peoples-perspective-gallup-poll-review.aspx

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Reagan came into office on a fairly high note, with initial job approval ratings as high as 60% by mid-March 1981. Then, on March 30, Reagan was shot on the streets of Washington by John Hinckley Jr., and the resulting concern and sympathy helped lift his ratings to 68% by May. But even as Reagan personally recovered from his wounds, the public's concerns about the bad economy did not, and the president's ratings began to fall as each month went by.

By the end of 1981, Reagan's job approval rating had drifted down to 49%.

Things got worse for Reagan in 1982. The public's view of the economy remained sour, and the president's ratings during 1982 stayed concomitantly low, in the 40% range, ending the year at 41%. The 1982 midterm elections were not good ones for Reagan and for the GOP. The Republicans lost about 25 seats in the House.

A clear cause for all of this was the economy. Still, Gallup analysts at the time presciently noted that there was some cause for optimism for Reagan:

Throughout the year <1982> a solid majority of Gallup's respondents have taken the position that Reaganomics will worsen, rather than improve, their own financial situation. Yet, Gallup consistently has found somewhat more public faith that Reaganomics will help the nation as a whole and even more faith in the president's program when the question is posed with regard to the long run. Surveys also indicate that the public has more confidence in Reagan than approval ratings of his performance would suggest. While only one third approve of the way he is handling the economy, close to half express some degree of confidence that he will do the right thing with regard to the economy.

Indeed, although 1983 began for Reagan with a 35% job approval rating -- the worst of his administration -- things started to look better.

His ratings moved back above 50% by November 1983 -- not only because the economy was picking up, but also in part as a result of rally effects associated with the U.S. invasion of Grenada and the terrorist explosion that killed 241 American Marines in Beirut, Lebanon.

By 1984, Reagan's job approval ratings were consistently above the 50% line that is a symbolic standard for an incumbent president seeking re-election. In Gallup's last October poll before the November 1984 election, Reagan received a 58% job approval rating, and he went on to soundly defeat Democratic nominee Walter Mondale by a 59% to 41% popular vote margin, receiving 525 electoral votes to Mondale's 13.

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[begin_within]

1. The magic of Teflon!

[TomCADem]

10. Its Post-Humous Teflon - Ronnie's Approval Sunk To 35% In 1983 As Unemployment Rose Over 10 Percent

The fact of the matter is that Reagan's trickle down tax cuts really did not help most Americans very quickly, just the richest, which prolonged the downturn. As the Obama administration noted, tax cuts are not very stimulative very quickly. Thus, Reagan's tax cuts simply caused the deficit to explode without any tangible benefit for most Americans.

[Turbineguy]

2. That's Saint Ronnie

to all you DU scum!

He may have been a dumb fuck, and he's certain dead and stinking but he was a fucking Saint! That's why all the stuff Bush did has been so beneficial to ALL Americans.

[Jennicut]

3. Thank you. I had no idea Reagan was ever that low in the polls, I always

thought he was way over 50% for most of his Presidency but then again I was 5 when he became President. Funny how over the years Reagan has become this myth of one of the greatest Presidents. Reagan did benefit from the fact that the public seemed to have less confidence in the Dems back then just as Obama benefits from the public not trusting the Rethugs right now.

[DrToast]

4. As the economy recovers, the same thing will happen to Obama

[billyoc]

5. GOP leaders were mad that Reagan's approval rating was that HIGH at the end.

They feel that they left something on the table. That's how these people think, that approval ratings points are a currency that you can spend to ram through reactionary economic policies.

It still keeps them up at night.

[no_hypocrisy]

6. Gotta remember this:

Reagan revived and reinvented the Brand Republican. Nixon ruined it and for six long years, the Party went around with its tail between its legs. Reagan with his Pepsodent Smile and suntan came along and made them "players" again. It's not so much what he did but how he was a symbol to them and low poll numbers were irrelevent.

[Drunken Irishman]

7. Right. He was the first 'successful' Republican president since Eisenhower.

In the sense he won re-election and solidified the comeback of the Republican Party.

He was a mediocre president in most Americans' eyes, but the right canonized him and it kind of carried over after he left office. I think he was aided by the fact many were sympathetic to his health problems.

[TomCADem]

11. The Irony Is That Dubya's Tried The Same Reagan Formula And It Blew Up In His Face

1. Pro-military.
2. Cut taxes for the rich as a cure-all.
3. Ignore the deficit.
4. Worship the free market and deregulation.

The difference is that Saint Ronnie left office, and Bush got stuck with and blamed for Reagan's deficit.

[Drunken Irishman]

13. Yup.

I think Reagan was benefited by the conditions he inherited. The country was not in good shape prior to him taking office, which was the exact opposite of the type of nation Bush inherited.

Reagan's policies early in his first term created the illusion things were getting better. It was only a temporary fix - like coffee for the country. In the long run, though, his policies made things worse, but by the time it all boiled over, he was long gone from the WH and it was his VP left to clean up the mess.

Poor H.W. had to go and raise taxes to fix what Reagan had done and it cost him an election.

[TomCADem]

15. I Also Think That Reagan's Inaction Helped Prolong His Recession

The unemployment rate was actually pretty stable when Reagan took office in January of 1981. Under Carter, the unemployment rate at the end of his Presidency was pretty stable at around 7.5 percent or so. After Reagan took office in January 1981, the unemployment rate remained at about 7.5 percent until September of 1981. That's right, the unemployment rate was not falling at the time President Reagan took office nor through the early months of his Presidency, which is a luxury that President Obama did not enjoy. However, in September 1981 the unemployment rate began to steadily grow to over 10 percent by September of 1982, and it remained above 10 percent until June of 1983. For comparison sake, can you imagine if unemployment remained above ten percent from 2010 through 2011 under President Obama?

Reagan's policies actually helped prolong, and perhaps deepen the recession, due to the fact that his tax cuts mainly benefited the wealthy, and Reagan cut non-military spending, while greatly expanding military spending. In other words, Reagan essentially implemented a "stimulus" package directed toward the defense industry, and while the stimulus eventually filtered to the rest of the economy, deficits grew, and unemployment remained over 10 percent for a prolonged period of time even as Ronald Reagan engaged in previously unprecedented peacetime deficit spending. These deficits lead George H.W. Bush to renege on his no new tax pledges, which contributed to his defeat by Bill Clinton.

In other words, contrary to popular belief, Ronald Reagan acted as a Keynsian, but for the defense industry, thus the benefits of this deficit spending were slow to percolate through the larger economy. In sharp contrast, President Obama's deficit spending, is largely targeted toward help to state and local governments, which mitigates the hit to teachers, police officers, etc., unemployment assistance, mortgage assistance, etc., which is why we are now already starting to see some signs of recovery in September 2009 while unemployment was just beginning to explode upward during a similar juncture in Reagan's presidency.

I had several relatives who worked for defense contractors during the 1980s, and it was a great time for them. However, if you were not in the defense industry, then the benefits of Reagan's deficit spending were slow to materialize.

[Uzybone]

8. another great post. Thanks.

[4lbs]

9. Obama's approval will back near 60% once the economy fully improves and healthcare reform is passed.

Another thing people have selective memory on is the marginal tax rate for the highest rate earners.

President Obama wants to increase the marginal tax rate on those individuals earning more than $250,000 of NET income by 3 percent (from 36% to 39%). Only the amount above $250,000 of NET income would be taxed at an additional 3 percent.

A person declaring $300,000 of net income would pay an additional $1500 in taxes, or $19,500 total in marginal taxes.

A huge howl is emanating from the right about that. About paying 39% instead of 36%.

They obviously forget that the marginal tax rate was at 51% for individuals making more than $175,000 during Reagan's 1980s. That same $300,000 of net income would pay an additional $63,750 marginal taxes under Reagan.

So, just who was "soaking the rich" ?

Yet, I didn't hear of any howling from the right about that. All I heard was about how millions of millionaires were being created during then and times were good.

[Drunken Irishman]

14. Right. Once healthcare passes, it's done.

There won't be any debate anymore.

Notice no one is debating the Obama stimulus package now?

Why? Because it passed and worked.

Same will happen with healthcare.

[Cha]

12. The gop would put ronald reagun's name

on the ticket in 2012 if they thought they could get away with it.