The Republican Party has a bigger problem than Donald Trump: It hasn’t figured out what it wants to be. GOP candidates still worship the legacy of Ronald Reagan, and cast themselves as Reagan’s heirs; there’s hardly a GOP stump speech in Iowa or New Hampshire that doesn’t invoke the 40th […] Read more »
Ted Cruz Is Just Like Reagan In 1980, Except People Actually Liked Reagan
Let’s dispose of this myth once and for all. Every presidential election cycle we hear it: “Well, they said Ronald Reagan could never be elected.” We’re hearing this chestnut again in the wake of Sen. Ted Cruz’s announcement this week that he’s running for president. CONT. Harry Enten, FiveThirtyEight 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 »
How Barack Obama is avoiding becoming George W. Bush
… While Obama has certainly been battered over his six years, he can at least say this: He’s in considerably better shape than his predecessor, George W. Bush, heading into the home stretch. While Obama’s and Bush’s numbers rivaled each other for the better part of the middle of their […] Read more »
Obama no longer underwater on his approval
Something remarkable just happened to Barack Obama’s poll numbers: For the first time since September 2013 — over 450 days ago — as many people approve of his job performance as disapprove. CONT. Philip Bump, Washington Post Recent polls: Obama’s job rating Read more »
How the Great Wage Slowdown Hurts Democrats
It’s a simple rule: A weak economy makes for an unpopular president. President Obama is on course to become the fourth president of the last six to leave office with an approval rating well below 50 percent. Each of the previous three — both Bushes and Jimmy Carter — also […] Read more »