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One year before a presidential election is considered a key moment to poll American’s to see how they believe their president is doing. Analysts claim that in order for a president to win re-election he should have at least a 47 percent job approval rating at that juncture in his tenure.
According to Gallup, President Obama’s presidential job approval rating index has been steadily dropping over the past few months, to finally fall far below even Jimmy Carter’s dismal job rating at the same time during his presidency. Jimmy Carter, who some consider one of the worst US presidents of the 20th century, earned a rating of 51 percent one year before his re-election. Gallup gave Obama a mere 43 percent job approval rating, making his one of the lowest in recent American history.
At the time right before the Iran hostage crisis in 1979 Jimmy Carter’s rating was far below Obama’s; but the early days of the crisis saw Carter’s approval rating climb. However in the end, due to Carter’s failure to win a hostage release, together with a poor US economy at the time, Carter lost his re-election bid to Ronald Reagan in 1980.
The job approval ratings for other past presidents at the one year mark before elections are:
• Harry S. Truman: 54 percent
• Dwight D. Eisenhower: 78 percent
• Lyndon B. Johnson: 44 percent
• Richard M. Nixon: 50 percent
• Ronald Reagan: 54 percent
• George H.W. Bush: 52 percent
• Bill Clinton: 51 percent
• George W. Bush: 55 percent
