President Obama Has 84% Support of Democrats, 14% Support of Republicans
According to Gallup.com (link below), President Obama is on track to become the most polarizing US President ever. Are you surprised? I'm guessing that the answer to that question is - no.
To measure how polarizing a President is/has been, Gallup takes the approval rating of voters who support the President's party and subtracts from that the President's approval rating of voters from the other party.
Through the first four years of President Obama's Presidency, his approval numbers look like this:
Average Approval Rating, Democrats - 84%
Average Approval Rating, Republicans - 14%
That leaves a "partisan gap" of 70 points (84% - 14%), which means that President Obama is easily on track to become the most polarizing US President ever.
According to Gallup, the second most polarizing President was George W. Bush (61 point gap), while the third most polarizing President was Bill Clinton (55 point gap).
Here are the top five most polarizing Presidents:
Barack Obama, 70 points
George W. Bush, 61 points
Bill Clinton, 55 points
Ronald Reagan, 52 points
Richard Nixon, 41 points
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According to Gallup, President Obama's fourth year in office (January 2012 - January 2013) tied with George W. Bush's fourth year in office as the most polarizing of all time. In both years (January 2012 - January 2013, January 2004 - January 2005), there was a 76 point gap in the Presidential approval ratings when polling supporters of the Republican and Democratic parties. In George W. Bush's fourth year in office, he had the support of 91% of Republicans and 15% of Democrats, while President Obama had the support of 86% of Democrats and 10% of Republicans during his fourth year in office.
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Given President Obama's inaugural address, you can safely assume that the "partisan gap" will continue to increase during his second term in office.
Source: Gallup.com - Obama's Fourth Year in Office Ties as Most Polarized Ever
Filed under: General Knowledge
