[Zack Nguyen]

IMHO, "approval ratings" are worthless. Clinton had a higher average approval rating than Reagan. He never got more than 49% of the vote. Reagan won with 53% and 60%. Now who was more popular?

I think a lot of people will say they "approve" of the President when they have no intention of ever voting for him. In some cases they say they "approve" of the President to cover up the fact that they have little or no idea what is going on.

An accurate poll would ask likely voters - people who have voted in the last election and plan on voting this time - who they would vote for if the election were today.

[Vigilanteman]

Approval ratings while a president is in office are like popularity polls for professors among current college students. When asked at the time, those who get the highest ratings are the professors who give out easy "A's", host keggers and help the students get laid.

However, ask 10 or 20 years later and the professors who get the highest ratings are those who challenged their students, demanded a lot and best help them prepare for life and careers. Clinton continues to get high ratings only because so many of his students haven't graduated and joined the real world-- and a good share of them never will.

[dvwjr]

Reagan's "popular" vote wins in 1980 and 1984 were closer to 50.75% and 58.77% respectively. However, Ronald Reagan was the only President of the United States to have over 90% of the electoral college vote in all his elections; not even George Washington (some electors not selected) or FDR did that well...


dvwjr