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Thursday, March 28, 2024
HomePollsPoll: Obama Worst President Since WW II, Ronald Reagan Was The Best

Poll: Obama Worst President Since WW II, Ronald Reagan Was The Best

A new poll released by Quinnipiac University found more Americans say Obama is the worst president since World War II than any other modern president. Not surprisingly, voters say that 2012 Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney would have been a better president.

“Over the span of 69 years of American history and 12 presidencies, President Barack Obama finds himself with President George W. Bush at the bottom of the popularity barrel,” said Tim Malloy, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Poll.

“Would Mitt have been a better fit? More voters in hindsight say yes.”

Talk about voters remorse. A recent ABC/WaPo poll similarly found Mitt Romney would defeat President Obama by 7 points if Americans had the chance to do it all over. But, of course, they don’t. So, Obama’s legacy is already being written in the public opinion arena.

Even though President Obama spent most of his first term blaming his predecessor, George W. Bush, Americans aren’t buying that line of attack. Bush, after only just 6 six years, trails Obama as the worst president in modern history by five points with 28 percent.

Meanwhile, President Ronald Reagan, the conservative Republican standard-bearer, is far and away seen as the best president in modern American history with 35 percent of voters. At a distant 18 percent is Bill Clinton, followed by 15 percent for John F. Kennedy and only 8 percent for Obama. Except for the 50-year anniversary of the Kennedy assassination, Gallup has consistently found President Reagan at the top of the list, as well.

President Obama continues to see his PPD average job approval rating deteriorate or flat in the low 40s, as Quinnipiac clocked him in at a negative 40 – 53 percent, up from a negative 38 – 57 percent measured in December, 2013. But unlike past dips, the president is no longer liked or trusted. Also, Americans now say that he is simply incompetent or incapable, a trend that is clearly evident in the latest Quinnipiac survey, too.

American voters say 54 – 44 percent that the Obama Administration is not competent running the government.

Written by

Rich, the People's Pundit, is the Data Journalism Editor at PPD and Director of the PPD Election Projection Model. He is also the Director of Big Data Poll, and author of "Our Virtuous Republic: The Forgotten Clause in the American Social Contract."

Latest comments

  • “Also, Americans now say that he is simply incompetent or incapable, a trend that is clearly evident in the latest Quinnipiac survey, too.”

    How about malicious?

  • How silly. George W. Bush was one of the worst presidents in our history. The Iraq War was the worst foreign policy blunder in our history. Obama came into office with the worst recession since the depression and kept our country from another depression. He’s ended 2 wars. The DOW has doubled. Obamacare is a success. Millions who were without health insurance are now covered. Millions more would be covered if republican governors would allow the Medicaid expansion but they would rather let their citizens suffer to make Obama look bad. Those who think that Obama is the worst president since Reagan are delusional and misinformed by the 24 hour a day propaganda channel. This poll says more about the ignorance of the American people than it does about the president. Historians will have a completely different assessment of his presidency.

    • Anyone who thinks Obamacare is a success has no credibility as a commentator.

  • No offense but if you vote someone in that has only 1 year of senator tenure under his belt and nothing else you are asking for trouble

  • People forget about the corruption and the amount of people that were convicted of crimes under the Reagan administration. Reagan was not a very good manager and his policies were awful. He is credited with defeating communism but the USSR was headed for the dustbin anyway.

    • You couldn’t be further from the truth. Reagan accelerated the demise of the Soviet Union by upping the ante on defense spending and beginning a defensive missile program which Gorbachev feared. He worked closely with Thatcher and secured the Anglo-American alliance, and providing an example of leadership by working with Tip O’Neill, who he befriended, even though it chafed him to spend so much on federal programs.

      • 21 people were convicted of crimes under Reagan, I don’t believe there has even been one under Obama. Whether the demise of USSR was accelerated due to the arms race is hard to prove but even you just said or implied that it was inevitable. Yes he worked with the Democrats, that I will give him credit for unlike the current Republicans.

        • Obama is a good judge of people’s character; he selects only those who think like him as cabinet members. Those who would be indicted simply resign or get transferred. As for Clinton, he just pardoned them at the last minute but then he himself committed perjury and demeaned the honor of the Oval Office itself. As for Republicans working with the current president, they are stymied in the Senate by Reid who does all of Obama’s bidding and makes no effort to allow their concerns to come to the floor, much less committee. Then you have people of such sterling character as Rahm Emmanuel and Eric Holder, not to mention those embattled in the IRS and other departments who have clearly violated ethics codes if not the law. What kind of judgment does that give Obama? I suppose you don’t think that Obama’s appointees are arrogant? You need a serious reality checkup. Be sure to use Obamacare when you do.

  • Labor participation rate
    IRS email destruction, “takes the 5th”

    Syria, Ukraine

    You can keep your doctor, plan

    Ubiquitous NSA spying
    Selective enforcement of law
    Arrogant and aloof

    I wonder why he is unpopular?

  • Reagan embodied the spirit of America and wrote many of his own speeches, delivering them without teleprompters, and demonstrating a terrific sense of humor. I miss him dearly. But I must say I also admire the last Democrat Reagan voted for–Harry Truman–who’d be appalled by his party today.

  • Notice how this right wing online publication uses a good photo of Reagan but a bad one of Obama. Quite unbalanced I’d say.

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