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Friday, January 29, 2010 6:22:07 PM
CHART OF THE DAY: Obama's Only Hope Is To Be Ronald Reagan
Vincent Fernando and Kamelia Angelova | Jan. 29, 2010, 3:14 PM
It's no secret that President Obama's approval ratings have plummeted since his election. Can he recover? Of course. Just look at what happened with Ronald Reagan.
According to Pew Research, presidential approval ratings frequently track changes in unemployment very closely, and for Obama, presidential disapproval has risen in lockstep with rising unemployment. You can see this in the top chart, below.
In a similar fashion, Ronald Reagan's disapproval rating soared in the early stage of his presidency, as unemployment rose sharply. (Bottom chart, below) He had inherited a pretty bad economy, just as Obama has. Yet once the economy recovered, and the unemployment rate began falling, Ronald Reagan recovered from his early disapproval almost completely.
Which means the message should be pretty clear for Obama -- Focus on getting the unemployment rate to fall, by any means, and you'll do just fine.
Pew Research: There is nothing now on the horizon that seems likely to diminish the impact that unemployment is having on views of Obama. His situation continues to parallel Reagan's, whose ratings recovered only when jobless rates began to decline.
Vincent Fernando and Kamelia Angelova | Jan. 29, 2010, 3:14 PM
It's no secret that President Obama's approval ratings have plummeted since his election. Can he recover? Of course. Just look at what happened with Ronald Reagan.
According to Pew Research, presidential approval ratings frequently track changes in unemployment very closely, and for Obama, presidential disapproval has risen in lockstep with rising unemployment. You can see this in the top chart, below.
In a similar fashion, Ronald Reagan's disapproval rating soared in the early stage of his presidency, as unemployment rose sharply. (Bottom chart, below) He had inherited a pretty bad economy, just as Obama has. Yet once the economy recovered, and the unemployment rate began falling, Ronald Reagan recovered from his early disapproval almost completely.
Which means the message should be pretty clear for Obama -- Focus on getting the unemployment rate to fall, by any means, and you'll do just fine.
Pew Research: There is nothing now on the horizon that seems likely to diminish the impact that unemployment is having on views of Obama. His situation continues to parallel Reagan's, whose ratings recovered only when jobless rates began to decline.
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