Gallup: Most Americans Think Obama Is ‘The Same’ Or ‘Worse’ Than George W. Bush
by Zara Golden | 12:34 pm, September 24th, 2011
According to a new Gallup Poll, the majority of Americans feel that Barack Obama has been “about the same” or “worse” than George W. Bush as President. 65 percent of those polled said that Obama is doing “about the same” or “worse” than Bush; or, if you’d rather, 65 percent feel that Obama is doing “about the same” or “better” than W. As he looks towards re-election, Obama will need to convince voters that the case is otherwise.
More people rated Obama “better” (43 percent) than they did “worse” (34 percent), but “about the same” can be assumed to hew to the latter. As Jeffery Jones, in writing for Gallup, argues, ”It could be argued that saying Obama has been about the same as Bush is also negative evaluation, given that Bush left office with low approval ratings and Americans generally did not judge his presidency to be very successful.”
Neither held up well against Bill Clinton.
Jones is careful to point out that while these numbers pose challenge to Obama, they are not dooming. He points out that the majority of Americans still fault Bush for the country’s economic problems, and that Obama still polls competitively against his possible GOP contenders. Most of all, there’s still more than a year before the elections, and “perceptions can change.”
http://www.mediaite.com/online/gallup-most-americans-think-obama-is-the-same-or-worse-than-george-w-bush/
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