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U.S. poll: more voters see Obama as worst president in modern times

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Two years into President Barack Obama's second term, more voters say they are dissatisfied with his administration's handling of everything from the economy to foreign policy, giving him the worst marks of any modern U.S. president, a poll on Wednesday said.

In a survey of 1,446 registered voters, 33 percent said Obama was the worst president since World War Two, while 28 percent pointed to his predecessor, George W. Bush, as the worst, the poll by Quinnipiac University found.

Voters were split over which of the two most recent presidents has done a better job with 39 percent saying Obama has been a better president than Bush and, 40 percent saying Obama is worse.

Most voters said Ronald Reagan, who served two terms in the 1980s, was the best president since 1945, the survey showed.

"Over the span of 69 years of American history and 12 presidencies, President Barack Obama finds himself with President George W. Bush at the bottom of the popularity barrel," said Tim Malloy, assistant director of Quinnipiac University's polling unit.

While Obama's job approval rating has inched higher to 40 percent, up from 38 percent in December, more voters gave him largely negative marks in key areas: the economy, foreign policy, healthcare and terrorism, according to the poll.

On the environment, 50 percent gave Obama positive marks.

The telephone survey, taken June 24 to June 30, had a margin of error of plus or minus 2.6 percentage points.
http://news.msn.com/us/us-poll-more-voters-see-obama-as-worst-president-in-modern-times

Not even close.

I'm not sure. People say the poles mean nothing when it goes against what they believe or who they want elected. Then they site poles when it agrees with what they believe or who they want elected.

So if you actually believe poles are accurate, then this may hold some meaning to you. If you have refuted poles in the past claiming they have no real meaning, this this shouldn't influence you at all.

It's not a pick and choose thing.

I would have a hard time voting against Jimmy Carter as the worst President in my lifetime .... however, he did bring about the Camp David Accords, which was no small foreign policy victory. Domestically, though, he was a disaster. Besides the Camp David Accords, he was also quite weak internationally.

I'd say yeah.

If I'm ranking, the three worst would be Obama, W. Bush, and Reagan.

I don;t see why these numbers would come as a surprise to folks given the last 14 yeas or so !

Obama let himself become corrupted by the Washington D.C. machine.

It's pretty sad when you're considered worse than a 1 term president who's claim to fame was your brothers beer and little yellow boots.

True, but they do have very opposing political philosophies.

worst president in Modern times? A case could be made for Nixon. He disgraced the office of President. But he did a lot of good as well.

Carter was no picnic. Ford wasn't there long enough to really know. Bush 44 was a one term Pres so some might say he didn't exactly do much for America.

Some would say that Reagan is party of the problem with our economy. There is some question there.

W didn't have a chance in his first term. 8 months in he had to contend with 9/11. What busted my chops was the way he handled his second term. it's Just like Obama now, W thought he could do anything he wanted. And he did.

Obama inherited a mess,, Several wars, economy in ruins etc.

I wouldn't have wanted to be President in 2008.. Other Presidents have also inherited a mess but I'm not sure when there was a worse one.. Maybe the Great Depression?

Anyway, I'm not sure if that really makes much difference because in the end, I don't think he handled all that very well so that is a strike against Obama.

Too much to weight, but at first glance, I'd have to say Carter. He didn't have nearly the mess to deal with that Obama did. So I give him the nod as the worst.

Maybe he has the worst congress.

Given the state of social media and partisan news media, we will never again have a popular president unless 1 of 2 things happens.. either we enter into a large scale unifying global conflict or somebody reinvents the internet and we have half a dozen years of unprecedented economic growth....

Is Obama the worst? Eh, I don't know but he's definitely in the conversation.

Presidents in my lifetime, worst to not the worst

Obama (I'm meh on him, dealt a bad hand and not doing himself any favors),

George W (disliked even though I voted for him twice),

George HW (I liked him),

Clinton (disliked him at the time),

Reagan (I do think he may have done more bad than good though long term).

I could include Carter somewhere but was too young (Born in late 78) to have a real opinion. I do think he was the most patriotic of any of those above though. Not many true patriots make it that high in office. Most are so corrupt by that point that they're only doing it for their egos and their wallets (post presidency as the job pays jack).

I have been saying that it has been downhill ever since Woodrow Wilson.....Just sayin....

Popularity has nothing to do with whether they were a good President or not....FDR was possibly one of the most popular Presidents ever...(one of)....yet we are saddled with a multitude of programs started under his Presidency(granted some molded and misshapen from their original intent)....And many Economists have argued that his policies EXTENDED the Great Depression rather than ending it.

But Woodrow Wilson is the point I see as the downturn. That is where the "progressive" elitism took over the government in thinking...To take from the WSJ article I read some time ago...

To simplify, progressive intellectuals were passionate advocates of rule by disinterested experts led by a strong unifying leader. They were in favor of using the state to mold social institutions in the interests of the collective. They thought that individualism and the Constitution were both outmoded.

That's not a description that Woodrow Wilson or the other leading progressive intellectuals would have argued with. They openly said it themselves.

From that point on the Government has intruded into the lives of US citizens more and more every year. And it is not a good thing. There were good intentions...but that is completely different....



link to WSJ story http://online.wsj.com/articles/charles-murray-the-trouble-isnt-liberals-its-progressives-1404170419

1 million jobs added in 8 years or 1 million jobs added every 5 months?

$1.2 Trillion in deficit increase or $700 billion in deficit reduction?

Crashing stock market or doubling stock market?

Huge war to get no WMD, or no war to get Syria to literally hand over tons?

This is a tough one. I mean really tough.

and i'm not sure if this is part of the constitution or just a federal policy.

but the electoral college in america needs to be straight up abolished. the votes from the american people, the popular vote, should be the ONLY vote.

I disagree....reformed maybe but abolished...no thank you...

Popularity means SQUAT.....

Just as many conservatives would be upset if their President was elected based on the perception that they were outnumbered by uneducated people with their hands out....

Liberals would be just as upset with the perception that they were outnumbered by uneducated, redneck, bible thumping, morons who just wanted to keep their guns....

In either case the theme is when it comes to the elections...an UNEDUCATED vote counts JUST THE SAME as an EDUCATED one....and with the voter turn out...can you say the TRULY educated votes are outnumbered by the uneducated ones.....If they were...would we have the absolute overflowing of corruptness that we see in the Government today???

Swish has a good point. It is time to bring a new constitution to the U.S. While drawing heavily on the ideas of the Constitution, it can be upgraded, but it'd be easier just to re-write it. For the people who value the writers so much, then I ask you to take Thomas Jefferson seriously when he says to re-write the constitution every 25 years.

Hard to say who is worst. Probably Obama, but Crater is in the conversation. I remember long lines at the gas station.

Reagan was the best, by far.

The worst:

Obama - scandal central
Carter - inept
Nixon - most corrupt before obama
Bush 1 - no gnu taxes
LBJ - We are not about to send American boys nine or ten thousand miles away from home to do what Asian boys ought to be doing for themselves

I didn't read any replies yet and I'm not one who follows each and every story digging for details. I just can't get interested in the TV news coverage of the issues. It seems each show has it's bias that twist the facts until I don't know what they really are.

I don't vote. That's right. I don't vote and I'll tell you why. It doesn't matter where you get your news or reporting on the candidates, whether it's TV or the internet, you never know who is telling the truth. You can hear something that helps solidify your opinion only to find out later that it was all BS. Who knows facts from falsehoods?

If you cast your vote based on misinformation it's a wasted vote. A misinformed vote is worse than not voting at all. You could find yourself voting for the worst candidate and not even realize it because you've based your opinion on false information.

I shudder to think of how many Americans base their vote on TV ads paid for by the candidates that are notorious for mud slinging and playing willy-nilly with facts and falsehoods. I'm certain, for a large proportion of voters, it's the basis for their opinions during election times.

It's like commercial for products if they were allowed to point out the failings of their competition. You'd see ads for a couple of products pointing out their own benefits and pointing out the shortcomings of their competition and in the end you won't know which laundry detergent is the better. Problem is, with electing Presidents, you can't try one and then try the other to make your own comparisons. You cast your vote for the one who makes the better commercials and now you're stuck with him.

An uninformed or misinformed vote can do more damage than good. So I leave the voting to those of you who are informed. I know there's a few like that. I know too that you're terribly offset by the ones who "vote for commercials" but I can't see how including my own uninformed vote would help you. Or us.

I can't follow the ins & outs and facts & falsehoods of politics as ardently as I do, say, the Browns. With the Browns I can spend the time to immerse myself in all the details and develop opinions on the team and players. At times I can really believe I have the answer. But in the end my opinions and beliefs neither add nor subtract anything on the Browns. More importantly, I have no impact on our country or the world with this obsession I have with the Browns. It's entertainment for me. Just as I feel politics is a form of entertainment for so many voters.

I really believe that if many of the voters really understood the impact their vote can have on the big picture they'd take it a lot more seriously than spouting dogmatic opinions and then going on to vote that way.

I think the vast majority of voters fall into two camps: Those who are uninformed and vote anyway and those who quickly form opinions and vote accordingly without really understanding the importance and impact of their vote.



On the question of whether Obama is the worst President it reminds me of how a few short years ago it's exactly what was being said about Bush, the worst President ever. Now Obama is the worst ever.

It's my take that the increased media coverage, to include social media, has opinions flying around like trash in a wind storm. Someone reports a shortcoming and the whole country jumps on it throwing "information" all over the internet which blows everything way out of proportion. It becomes like Johnny Manzel who can't fart cross-wise without it being played-out in the various medias until he's a near criminal.

So many people state their opinions and what they believe to be the mind-set behind those opinions that different people latch onto one or more of the presented opinions and extrapolate them until the broadband is at full capacity with a lot of opinions and "facts" that no one can define the real actions behind the issues.



It's my prediction that the next President will suffer the same fate so that after a honeymoon period he then too will be questioned so severely on every move he makes and every idea he has until he will then be considered the worst President ever.


So, is Obama the worst President ever? In the public opinion, probably. At least until the next guy comes along...

It's all a big soap opera which is a shame that our country and our politics has come down to this. And we, as the gullible masses, follow it like housewives who use it as an escape from the drama in their own immediate lives.

Every POTUS is going to be extremely unpopular because there is no such thing as a string of policies or governing that benefits EVERYONE. And because some folks get the raw end of a deal, they are the ones who cry loudest and cause the most stir. They are the ones showing up on the politically charged FOX/MSNBC news programs. Well, that ultimately leads to a negative image, even if it's a small minority that is affected.

Let's face it...in today's world of social media bad news always travels faster than good, long term strategies do.

No one really knows what the ACTUAL affects of O's economic/foreign policies will be for many years until after he's out of office. But people complaining are heard right now.

So my personal jury is still out on Obama. I see some good, I see some not-so-good. But it's like trying to grade a rookie draft class after 2 years.

However, seeing what W left us all with at the end of his terms shows me it was a complete bust of a draft pick! He easily gets my vote.

And it's not even close.

Quote:

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Most voters said Ronald Reagan, who served two terms in the 1980s, was the best president since 1945, the survey showed.

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There is the dead giveaway! This poll was skewed towards conservatives. I like Reagan but Clinton was a far better President.

I'm not really all that happy with Obama, but George Bush is was and always will be the absolute worst President of my lifetime. Him and Cheney wrecked this country! Idiots.

While I do still vote, your points are accurate and it makes it harder and harder to decide who to vote for all of the time.

I guess the main reason I vote is because my dad was in the military and instilled in me his belief that it was my duty to vote. That so many had died for my right to vote and live in America.

I'm not saying everyone should or needs to vote. I'm just saying that my family shed enough blood to afford me that right.

Which is sort of what bothers me about those who believe that only those who own property should vote. Then let those be the only ones to spill blood for that right. You can't expect the poor and middle class to fight and die for their country while telling them and their families they aren't worthy of voting.

And that's why and how I rate former presidents. How much they value the life and need to put our military in harms way. It better be legit or you're on my list according to body count.

1 Worst LBJ
2nd W

Since WWII? Well, each president has gotten us further and further into troubled times by increasing dependency on the government itself. So, each one is pretty much worse than the last in succession.

I'm surprised that LBJ hasn't been mentioned more .. What He/Kiss/McNamara did was criminal ..

What I do know is that I work very hard to earn my 6 figure salary, so there is no way I could ever vote for a democrat.