There are 2 reader comments
48 01 2003 2:48PM
This is an interesting graph.
Monicagate didn't affect Clinton's popularity substatially until he was impeached (that's the 10% drop at around 6 years in). Reagan's big drop at 5.75 years is Iran-Contra.
Bush 2's popularity skyrockets with military offensives, but then drops very steeply and with a consistent slope; my supposition is that this is regression to a baseline support level.
How low is that level? The curve hasn't ever leveled out since 9/11, so it's hard to know. If I were a White House politico, I'd be thinking about how I could get one of those big spikes in late summer 2004.
This thread is closed to new comments. Thanks to everyone who responded.
J.D. Roth31 31 2003 1:31PM
This is a great graph.
It's amazing, for example, how closely Reagan's and Clinton's approval ratings stay in lockstep until the latter part of their Presidential terms. Also, it's eerie how similar the Bush's ratings seem to be. Of course, it's this similarity that provides hope, too; look what happens to Bush Sr. at the end of his term...
Great link.