EVERYBODY LOVES REAGAN
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James Joyner | Thursday, November 13, 2003 |
David Greenberg has an interesting piece about the huge resurgence in Ronald Reagan’s popularity, reminding us that the 40th president was often controversial and even disliked during his term in office.
Most people would be surprised to hear that in 1992, significantly more people viewed his presidency unfavorably than favorably–and that his approval ratings stayed in the middling range until about 1999.***
for the first 24 months of Reagan’s first term he was one of the least popular presidents of recent times. At the end of his first year in office, he was less popular than were Jimmy Carter, Richard Nixon, John Kennedy, and Dwight Eisenhower (his four predecessors elected into the presidency) at the end of their first years. At the end of his second year, he posted only a 37 percent job-approval rating from Gallup, again lower than the four elected predecessors.
The middle years of Reagan’s presidency did see a rebound in his fortunes, fueled by a rebound in the economy, and into late 1986 he commanded high (though never astronomical) approval ratings. But with the revelation of the Iran-Contra scandal, his popularity plummeted, not to recover until his administration’s tail end, when it was buoyed by farewells and retrospectives. (In February 1987, for example, 53 percent of the public disapproved of Reagan’s performance while just 40 percent approved.)
About the Author: James Joyner is the publisher of Outside the Beltway and the managing editor of the Atlantic Council. He's a former Army officer, Desert Storm vet, and college professor with a PhD in political science from The University of Alabama. He lives just outside the Beltway in Alexandria, Virginia with his wife and infant daughter.
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I'm surprised you fell for this.
The bulk of what he talks about and the link he links to only over the first 2 months of an 8 year term
With the horrid condition the country was in when Carter left was it no surprise people were none to pleased with whoever was running the show.
As Reagans' policies took effect, Reagan's poll number went up.
Further, as we have been reminded at the end of this last recession, unemployment spikes just before the boom. After inflation soared to 20% under Carter people freaked when unemployment spiked.
As the recovery set in people were far happier. Greenberg glosses over this timeframe and offers not a single poll number.
Then he sites the worst number he can find during Iran Contra. He conveniently ignores that after Watergate people freaked at the thought of another Presidential scandal BUT after they learned the facts of Iran Contra, Reagan's poll numbers WENT UP! (remember Ollie North?)
He also conveniently does not provide his poll numbers the day he left office.
I don't know Reagan's numbers when he left office but I vividly remember Dan Blather giving them and Blather being utterly confused why everyone loved the man so much.*
All things considered, Greenberg used a weak selection of numbers to back up his dubious conclusions.
Paul
*Back then I did not see the obvious bias in that.
OOOOPS TYPO
The numbers used in the artice were taken from Reagan's first 24 months in office.
(2 years, 24 months, I shoulda picked or the other, not both)
Who cares whether he was popular then? Churchill was unpopular shortly after WWII. Does that mean he isn't to be respected? When you're in the middle of heart surgery, there's a lot of blood and gore. It's what the patient looks like later that counts.
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