Is Barack Obama really the worst president since World War II? The Quinnipiac Poll announced just that result result recently. There were thereafter a number of pushbacks from that conclusion, most based on the fact that such an open-end question reflects a “recency bias” in that Americans think about the presidents who are most top-of-mind. …
Rather than asking Americans to retrospectively choose the best and worst presidents, I think a method using contemporaneous polling has some significant advantages. We can examine the job approval ratings earned by each of the 12 presidents who have served since World War II while they were in office, and from that create a list of the best and the worst — as evaluated by their constituents. CONT.
Frank Newport, Gallup