REAGAN Approval, January 1983, 35%;. CLINTON, Jan 1995, 45%

[denem]

www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/reagan/timeline/index_4.html

The Economy was bad.
Banking S&L crisis.

BILL CLINTON, January 1995, 45% (nbc/wsj)
50 - 60 % in 1996

http://webapps.ropercenter.uconn.edu/CFIDE/roper/presidential/webroot/presidential_rating_detail.cfm?allRate=True&presidentName=Clinton

[ShadowLiberal]

1. There's little coorelation to president's approval #'s now & how well they do next election

[denem]

2. Link?

Good Luck.

[Dawgs]

11. Bush I and Carter had higher approval ratings at the same time in their Presidency.

They both lost.

[DURHAM D]

3. Given that Clinton only received 43% of the vote when he was elected

that means he had gone up by 2% at this point in his presidency.

IOWs - I don't think you want to use this comparison for Obama.

[denem]

4. Perot. Half his vote would have Clinton at about 54% vote.

[DURHAM D]

5. Wrong - post election analysis determined that Bush would have gotten

the vast majority of those votes (if they voted at all).

And don't ask for a damn link - its in my head because I have been reading political junk for many decades.

Edit: BTW - Ross only got 18% of the vote so your basic math totally sucks.

[StevieM]

7. Exit polls at the time showed Perot taking equally from both candidates. In 96 he took more votes

from Clinton than he did from Dole.

[Hippo_Tron]

9. Not to mention that Clinton was up double digits when it was a two man race

[denem]

8. LINK: Half and Half

http://www.leinsdorf.com/perot.htm

In Governors Races, Perot supporters voted

18% of their ballots for the Republican candidates; 56% of their ballots for Democratic candidates, 17% for independent candidates, and 8% did not bother to vote for Governor.

[TeacherB87]

6. It is a valid comparison

because BOTH presidents experienced a drop in popularity from what they achieved after being first elected. Both also saw a steep rise in their popularity leading up to re-election. There is no guarantee that this will also be the case for Obama, but it is possible if he manages to neither alienate the base or independent voters.

[Dawgs]

10. Wouldn't comparing him against others with similar approval ratings be better?

Like Bush I, Bush II, and Carter?

:shrug: