Highs and Lows of Presidential Approval

President Obama's Approval rating, according to the Gallup Poll, now stands at 53%. 41% of Americans now say they disapprove of the job that Obama is doing as President.

The very first Gallup approval rating taken on Obama was 69%, and that was the highest rating the President has received to date. See http://www.gallup.com/poll/113980/Gallup-Daily-Obama-Job-Approval.aspx for a history of Gallup's approval rating on Obama. The lowest rating obtained by Gallup was in early September when it registered at 50% approval for Obama.

If history is any clue, we can expect to find much variation in the approval of Obama over the course of his presidency. For example, President George W. Bush received the highest approval rating ever recorded by Gallup (92%)right after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. Seven years later in February 2008, as the nation's economy worsened and the Iraq War drug on, Bush's rating fell to 19%, the lowest rating ever taken by Gallup.

Similarly, President Harry Truman registered an 87% approval rating in May of 1945, toward the end of WWII. Truman also holds the second lowest approval rating in Gallup history at 22%, taken in February 1952.