Where Does Obama’s Final Approval Rating Rank Him Among Other U.S. Presidents?

/ February 12, 2017

President Barack Obama will officially relinquish the Oval Office to President-elect Donald Trump this week. Americans seemed as divided as ever during the 2016 campaign season, but the bitterness of the election may have helped paint Obama in more of a positive light in the eyes of many Americans.

The economy has been particularly strong in recent quarters, and Obama will be leaving office with his highest approval rating since his first year in office. Here’s a look at where Obama’s performance ranks among the 13 presidents to hold office since Gallup began tracking presidential approval ratings in 1937.

1. Franklin D. Roosevelt (Democrat, 1933–1945)

  • Approval rating when he left office: 70 percent.
  • Change in approval rating while in office: +9.
  • Average approval rating: 64 percent.

Approval ratings typically decline throughout a president’s term, but FDR was credited with pulling the United States out of the Great Depression.

2. John F. Kennedy (Democrat, 1961–1963)

  • Approval rating when he left office: 63 percent.
  • Change in approval rating while in office: -13.
  • Average approval rating: 70 percent.

Despite a 13 percent decline while in office, Kennedy still held a stellar 63 percent approval number when he was tragically assassinated in 1963.

3. Dwight D. Eisenhower (Republican, 1953–1961)

  • Approval rating when he left office: 61 percent.
  • Change in approval rating while in office: -7.
  • Average approval rating: 64 percent.

Although Eisenhower’s approval rating fell 7 percent while in office, he still stands as the most popular Republican president in recent history.

4. Bill Clinton (Democrat, 1993–2001)

  • Approval rating when he left office: 60 percent.
  • Change in approval rating while in office: +13.
  • Average approval rating: 54 percent.

Many Americans disapproved of Clinton’s personal behavior while in office, but he certainly impressed the country with his job performance. Clinton’s approval rating climbed 13 percent while he was in office, more than any other recent president.

5. Barack Obama (Democrat, 2009–2017)

  • Approval rating when he left office: 57 percent.
  • Change in approval rating while in office: +1.
  • Average approval rating: 48 percent.

Obama will go down in history as the first African American president, but the numbers show that Americans consider him among the best-performing presidents in recent history as well.

6. Ronald Reagan (Republican, 1981–1989)

  • Approval rating when he left office: 52 percent.
  • Change in approval rating while in office: -4.
  • Average approval rating: 52 percent.

Reagan is the only Republican to leave office with an approval rating of greater than 50 percent since Eisenhower in 1961.

7. Gerald Ford (Republican, 1974–1977)

  • Approval rating when he left office: 48 percent.
  • Change in approval rating while in office: -1.
  • Average approval rating: 45 percent.

Ford certainly had an uphill battle to climb in the minds of Americans when he took over for the disgraced Richard Nixon to become the only person ever to serve as both president and vice president without being elected to either office.

8. Lyndon B. Johnson (Democrat, 1963–1969)

  • Approval rating when he left office: 42 percent.
  • Change in approval rating while in office: -34.
  • Average approval rating: 54 percent.

After taking office on the heels of Kennedy’s assassination, Johnson’s high ratings quickly eroded as he escalated U.S. involvement of the unpopular Vietnam War.

9. George H.W. Bush (Republican, 1989–1993)

  • Approval rating when he left office: 39 percent.
  • Change in approval rating while in office: -24.
  • Average approval rating: 60 percent.

Bush oversaw the Gulf War, a tax hike, sluggish economic growth and consistent budget deficits, all of which weighed on his approval rating.

10. Jimmy Carter (Democrat, 1977–1981)

  • Approval rating when he left office: 38 percent.
  • Change in approval rating while in office: -23.
  • Average approval rating: 45 percent.

Carter’s presidency included highlights such as persistent economic “stagflation,” the Iran hostage crisis, the 1979 energy crisis and the Three Mile Island nuclear disaster.

11. George W. Bush (Republican, 2001–2009)

  • Approval rating when he left…

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