… The Hillary Clinton e-mail controversy is just the latest entrée in a decades-long, calorie-rich menu provided by the former first lady and her husband. But will it make a difference in 2016? Scandal allegations are almost always an enormously time-consuming distraction and they make it virtually impossible to communicate […] Read more »
For Presidents Day, a look at presidential job approval ratings from Ike to Obama
Perhaps no measure better captures the public’s sentiment toward the president than job approval. It dates back to the earliest days of public opinion polling, when George Gallup asked about Franklin D. Roosevelt starting in the 1930s: “Do you approve or disapprove of the way ____ is handling his job […] Read more »
What’s the secret of Nixon’s unpopularity?
Most American presidents’ reputations improve after they leave office. In the warm light of history, once-derided chief executives seem to gain retroactive stature. … But not Richard M. Nixon. Nixon, who resigned 40 years ago Saturday, has somehow managed the opposite feat: A generation after his departure, he looks even […] Read more »
How the Watergate crisis eroded public support for Richard Nixon
Forty years ago today, Richard Nixon announced his resignation from the nation’s highest office, making that decision in the face of almost certain impeachment by the House and plummeting public support, as a majority of Americans called for his removal from office. But it happened in stages. CONT. Andrew Kohut, […] Read more »
CNN Poll: Trust in government at all-time low
Four decades after President Richard Nixon resigned, a slight majority of Americans still consider Watergate a very serious matter, a new national survey shows. But how serious depends on when you were born. … The poll also indicates that the public’s trust in government is at an all-time low. CONT. Paul […] Read more »
Public Opinion and Nixon’s Downfall
Forty years after Richard Nixon resigned the presidency, observers today are re-examining how the White House, the courts and the Congress handled that crisis. An additional element worth considering is the weight of public opinion. CONT. Gary Langer, ABC News Read more »