More bad news for 53-year-old President Barack Obama hit the headlines with a new CNN/ORC poll showing that his aggregate 43% approval rating dropped below former President George W. Bush. Considered one of the most divisive figures in presidential history, Bush watched his approval ratings plummet from over 90% in the wake of Sept. 11 to under 33% at the end of his presidency. Proving that time heals all wounds, Bush now enjoys a 52% approval rating, nine points above the nation’s first African American president. Presenting problems for 2016 Democratic candidate former U.S. Sen. and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, Obama’ low approval rating introduce doubt into the Democratic ticket. Showing that hindsight’s always 20/20, the White House can’t explain Obama’s poor approval ratings given the relatively favorable U.S. economy.
When Bush left office Jan. 20, 2009, the unemployment rate was nearly 10%, federal budget deficits exceeded $1.4 trillion and the U.S. economy lapsed into what former Federal Reserve Board Chairman Alan Greenspan called a “financial panic,” known as the Great Recession. When Bush moved out the Oval Office, the U.S. economy was shedding some 200,000 jobs a month, eventually losing 8 million. Since April 2010 under Obama’s watch, the nation added back over 10 million jobs, with unemployment hitting post-WWII lows at 5.3%. Yet the same public that left Bush’s approval ratings at 30% now exceed what Amb. Caroline Kennedy called in 2008 the heir-apparent to her popular father, President John F. Kennedy. Enjoying a 69% approval rating after taking office in 2009, Obama looks vulnerable now.
Obama’s sinking approval ratings hurts all Democratic candidates, including Hillary, heading into the 2016 election, where voters weigh possible alternatives to Democratic rule. While there are many theories how Barack got off the right track, it looks like his controversial health care law, known as the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, signed into law March 23, 2010 sent his presidency into a nosedive. Passed in the U.S. Senate Dec. 24, 2009 without one Republican vote, Obama sealed his fate with Republicans in Congress. While he campaigned as a post-partisan president to represent all Americans, regardless of Red and Blue states, he became more partisan than his predecessor. Serving less than one term in the U.S. Senate, Barack allowed House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) to set his agenda.
Paying the price now, Obama’s unilateral decision to impose health care reform on the American public, regardless of its actual beneftis, cost him a steady slide in his approval ratings. When you add to that his decision to fulfill a campaign promise and end the Iraq War Dec. 15, 2011, adding to the rise of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, you’ve got a toxic cocktail of bad domestic and foreign policy. Whatever improvements have occurred in the U.S. economy—including lower unemployment and federal budget deficits—it’s been offset by a sluggish Gross Domestic Product, running under 1%. Federal Reserved Board Chairwoman Janet Yellen hasn’t been able to raise interest rates fearing a possible recession. With many American workers unable to make ends meet with low-wage and part-time jobs, the nation’s GDP has been stuck in neutral for too long.
Bush’s approval ratings sank when excessive defense spending on two costly foreign wars eventually tanked the economy into the worst recession since the Great Depression. By the time Bush left office Jan. 20, 2009, some polls had his once 90-plus-percent approval rating under 30%. Unlike Bush, who signed bipartisan Medicare prescription drug legislation into law Dec. 8, 2003, Obama’s AFA was a 100% Democrat-sponsored. Whether or not the AFA helps certain uninsured Americans, Obama chose a partisan path that hurt his approval ratings. When you consider the daily grind of bad news in Iraq and Syria, it leaves voters with a bad taste bound to wear off on Hillary. However many Republicans jump into the 2016 race, the overriding concern to voters is whether or not another Democratic president can fix the country’s foreign policy and domestic problems.
Obama’s running out of time between now and the 2016 election to improve his sagging approval ratings. Conservative TV and talk radio has kicked into a new gear bashing Obama and Hillary, driving Hillary’s recent poll numbers down as well, especially her trustworthiness. Keeping her State Department email and Benghazi problems in the headlines have taken its toll. Whether that’s enough to push one of the of GOP presidential hopefuls into the White House is anyone’s guess. Over a year out from the 2016 election, Hillary still has a leg up on her GOP challengers. If Obama’s approval ratings continue to plummet, it’s going to help make the case for a GOP president in 2016. Comparing Obama’s real-time approval ratings to Bush’s seven years after leaving office offers little insight. What’s known today is that Obama’s become a big disappointment.
