According to the latest CNN/ORC poll, 45% of the public approves of the job President Obama is doing, while 52% disapprove (net -7%). Those numbers are closely in line with most polls, where the president averages an approval rating of about 45% and a disapproval rating of approximately 50% (net -5%). That isn't the pointless part of the poll, however.
Here was a CNN headline from today: "Bush now more popular than Obama."
That's right; CNN decided to compare the approval ratings of the current president, who's been in office for 6.5 years, to the president before him, who hasn't been in office for the past 6.5 years.
Here's how CNN's Jennifer Agiesta decided to word things:
"...For the first time in a decade, more Americans say they like him (Bush) than dislike him.
According to the poll, 52% of adults had a favorable impression of George W. Bush, 43% unfavorable (net +9%). When Bush left office in 2009, only about a third of Americans said they had a positive opinion of him..."
Newsflash - presidents historically get more popular after they step out of office and it's incredibly stupid to compare a former president's current approval rating with the current president's. If CNN feels the need to make such a comparison, they can look at President Bush's numbers 6.5 years into his tenure and see how they match up with President Obama's. In fact, I'll do that for them. At this point in Bush's presidency, his approval rating was 35% and disapproval was at 62% (net -27%), which is 20-22% worse than President Obama. So, nice try, CNN.
Another facepalm-worthy moment in the poll was the public's response when asked the question, "Whose policies are more to blame for the current problems the U.S. faces in Iraq?" The two were nearly dead even, as 43% responded with Bush and 44% responded with Obama.
The public apparently has a very short-term memory. President Bush and his administration started the mess in Iraq by lying us into war in the first place. How can just as many people (slightly more, in fact) blame President Obama for trying to clean up the mess President Bush created? Do they also blame the current president for the Great Recession when he inherited it upon stepping into office in 2009? It reminds me of that old story I'm about to make up where a class bully breaks a kid's lunchbox, someone else tries to fix the lunchbox, isn't able to fully do so, so the one whom got bullied fully blames him for breaking the lunchbox in the first place. No, it doesn't make a bit of sense and neither does this poll result.
Congratulations, CNN! You've just released the most pointless poll of the week! Next week, I'll be expecting to see you release a poll which compares fictional presidents' approval ratings with the current president's. Good luck! Now get to work!
http://www.cnn.com/2015/06/03/politics/george-w-bush-favorability-ratings/
http://www.cnn.com/2015/06/03/politics/obama-approval-rating-cnn-poll/
http://www.pollingreport.com/BushJob1.htm
Here was a CNN headline from today: "Bush now more popular than Obama."
That's right; CNN decided to compare the approval ratings of the current president, who's been in office for 6.5 years, to the president before him, who hasn't been in office for the past 6.5 years.
Here's how CNN's Jennifer Agiesta decided to word things:
"...For the first time in a decade, more Americans say they like him (Bush) than dislike him.
According to the poll, 52% of adults had a favorable impression of George W. Bush, 43% unfavorable (net +9%). When Bush left office in 2009, only about a third of Americans said they had a positive opinion of him..."
Newsflash - presidents historically get more popular after they step out of office and it's incredibly stupid to compare a former president's current approval rating with the current president's. If CNN feels the need to make such a comparison, they can look at President Bush's numbers 6.5 years into his tenure and see how they match up with President Obama's. In fact, I'll do that for them. At this point in Bush's presidency, his approval rating was 35% and disapproval was at 62% (net -27%), which is 20-22% worse than President Obama. So, nice try, CNN.
Another facepalm-worthy moment in the poll was the public's response when asked the question, "Whose policies are more to blame for the current problems the U.S. faces in Iraq?" The two were nearly dead even, as 43% responded with Bush and 44% responded with Obama.
The public apparently has a very short-term memory. President Bush and his administration started the mess in Iraq by lying us into war in the first place. How can just as many people (slightly more, in fact) blame President Obama for trying to clean up the mess President Bush created? Do they also blame the current president for the Great Recession when he inherited it upon stepping into office in 2009? It reminds me of that old story I'm about to make up where a class bully breaks a kid's lunchbox, someone else tries to fix the lunchbox, isn't able to fully do so, so the one whom got bullied fully blames him for breaking the lunchbox in the first place. No, it doesn't make a bit of sense and neither does this poll result.
Congratulations, CNN! You've just released the most pointless poll of the week! Next week, I'll be expecting to see you release a poll which compares fictional presidents' approval ratings with the current president's. Good luck! Now get to work!
http://www.cnn.com/2015/06/03/politics/george-w-bush-favorability-ratings/
http://www.cnn.com/2015/06/03/politics/obama-approval-rating-cnn-poll/
http://www.pollingreport.com/BushJob1.htm
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