The Ronald Reagan presidency offers the most recent historical clues as to whether President Barack Obama’s popularity could affect voters’ choices for president in November. Like Obama, Reagan was earning job approval ratings in the low to mid-50s in the second half of his eighth year. And the Republican nominee for president that year, George H.W. Bush, won the election. In contrast, two second-term presidents with even higher job approval ratings — Bill Clinton in 2000 and Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1960 — each saw their party’s candidate lose the election. CONT.
Lydia Saad, Gallup