What is the lowest Presidential approval rating for any president in the history of the US?
455291
To date: Richard Nixon at 24% at the end of his Presidency.\n\nEnd-of Presidency Job Approval Ratings\nPresident Rating (%) Election Results\nBill Clinton\n(2 terms, D, 2001) 65% VP Gore (D) wins popular vote but Bush (R) wins electoral college vote\nRonald Reagan\n(2 terms, R, 1989) 64% VP Bush (R) defeats Dukakis (D)\nDwight Eisenhower\n(2 terms, R, 1961) 59% Kennedy (D) defeats Nixon (R)\nJohn F. Kennedy\n(partial term, D, 1963) 63% (VP) Johnson (D) defeats Goldwater (R)\nGeorge Bush\n(1 term, R, 1993) 56% Clinton (D) defeats Bush (R)\nGerald Ford\n(partial term, R, 1977) 53% Carter (D) defeats Ford (R)\nLyndon Johnson\n(1+ terms, D, 1969) 49% Nixon (R) defeats Humphrey (Johnson did not run) (D)\nJimmy Carter\n(1 term, D, 1981) 34% Reagan (R) defeats Carter (D)\nRichard Nixon\n(partial term, R, 1974) 24% Carter (D) defeats (VP) Ford (R)\n\nBy the way GWB is currently at 45%. Which is better than Jimmy Carter (Who won a Nobel Prize).
1181183
His low approval rating, it is around 30%.
181407
I would rank as the "worst" Presidents should be those whose policies clearly made things worse, not those who may have been hampered by opposition or simply not politically very effective. Thus I'd omit the likes of John Quincy Adams.\n\n\n1) Franklin Pierce -- he supported slaveowners to the point of accepting what everyone knew was a trumped up government brought us "bleeding Kansas", which was essentially the beginning of the Civil War.\n2) James Buchanan -- marginally better; took the same general position as Pierce.  Beyond his failure on Kansas, he did a horrible job between Lincoln's winning the election and taking office to effectively counter secession (people in his cabinet were even actively working for the secessionist goverments!)\n3)  Jimmy Carter -- disastrous on domestic issues, esp. the economy ("misery index"), but that dims compared to his foreign policy, allowing Communist expansion in Central America (which Reagan had to clean up) and the fall of Iran (which we are STILL trying to figure out how to deal with)...  \n\nAnd Jimmy Carter certainly wins my vote for worst EX-President... Breaking all precedent by bad-mouthing his successors (before him there was an understanding that you did not do so).  But more important that that bad form since the early 90s he's been running around secretly (and not alway so secretly) trying to run his own foreign policy, even if it directly contradictory to the current elected administration.\n\nAlso, I have to disagree with some of the "classic answers" we often see... at least for their reasons.  Harding & Grant are usually ranked low because of scandals on their watch. Hard to be sure about how much personal involvement Harding had in Teapot Dome, and not a big fan, but his economic policies (tricky postwar transition time) were more effective than he is usually given credit for.  As for Grant, no one questions that he was personally scandal-free (though generally too trusting of OTHERS' motives), and many are reassessing his successes  (e.g., as a strong champion of the freedmen in the very difficult post-war era).   Hoover is blamed for the Great Depression, or at least making it worse -- there may be some truth to that, but if so it's not that he just sat back (contra the popular myth), but probably that he tried to have the government do too  MUCH... things that it was ill=equipped to do.
414959
thats what most people do.  In america we contridict everything.  President bush's approval rating was the highest of any president ever at 96% after he said we are going to was after 9/11.  Then we went and people started dieing then people relized the reality and his approval rating went down to 46%.  the right man will always lead this country.  we just need to stop critque things after the happen and pointing fingers.\n\nMatt
241879
right, George W. Bush is one of the worst presidents the United States of America has ever had. But as they always say, people get what they deserve.
528569
blows  my   mind  that  anybody  would  approve  of  any  thing  that  mother  fucker   has   done.the  last  one  i   heard  on  the  news,  said  he  was  at  a   record  low   for  approval, it  was  37%.
214858
Given Bush's current approval rating (34-38%) and the way he has split America in two, he is a divider, not a uniter. Bush and his group of rich fat cats is no way in touch with the American people.
301630
These are the top ranking three Presidents—in chronological order, George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, and Franklin D. Roosevelt.  Frequently ranking just below those three are Presidents Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt, and Woodrow Wilson. The remaining "top 10" ranks are often filled by Andrew Jackson, Harry S Truman, and Dwight D. Eisenhower.\nIn these polls, the highest ranking president who served only one term is usually James K. Polk or John Adams. The highest ranking president who served less than one full term is usually John F. Kennedy.\nFrequently ranking at the bottom of most polls are Franklin Pierce, James Buchanan, Andrew Johnson, and Warren G. Harding.
338827
Kennedy had the highest ever recorded, but remember that approval ratings only go back to about the turn of the century.\n\nI don't know what Kennedy's highest approval rating was off the top of my head, but it seems to me it was somewhere in the high eighties.  You can find out more at www.gallop.com.\n\nI know you said you know who had the lowest, but just in case you're interested, it was Richard Nixon at 19%.
362111
the gallup poll of late states that 59% of americans disapprove of bush's job performane.\n\nthere are no scientific polls on how many people think he sucks, but if you factor in other countries, those that intensely dislike bush would be over a billion, in my estimation.
296572
Approval Ratings polls should be taken with a grain of salt for two reasons. First, people are essentially like lemmings adopting the flavor of the day in opinions. Secondly, these polls are based on interviewing 1000 people. In my opinion, this is way too small a sample to get an accurate picture of the nation.\n\nThe simple fact is that every issue is exploited to an extent by both sides for political gain. This is the sad truth, and I am afraid not much can be done about it. All in all, I think a 36% approval rating is lower than he deserves. \nWar is never popular, but his handling of Katrina is being twisted by the left for political gain. He spoke with Gov. Blanco before and during the heighth of the storm, asking her repetitively to declare a disaster. This would allow the Federal Gov't to take over, but she refused. Your president is not a First Responder. The blame belongs on the state and local governments.\n\nThe ports deal is another example, although I am increasingly of the position that it was a very clever smokescreen by the administration designed primarily to secure an easy passage of the Patriot Act renewal.
267522
The best thng a president coming into office can hope for is "a mess". Look at Jimmy Carter. It makes it easier to get good poll numbers if the outgoing pres is unpopular.
514663
He has 33% approval rating.  \n\nThat's a low rating for a president.  \n\nWhen you compare his ratings to Clinton's it's laughable.
347298
That's what they'd like to do, alright. Bush is almost certainly the worst president since Nixon, but he's *their* worst president since Nixon.
658821
Are you kidding with this question?  His approval rating is 29%.  Does that tell you anything?
126138
His ratings were very high at the end of '01.  However, they are not currently anywhere near that level.  He may well end his tenure having experienced both the highest and lowest approval ratings in history.
509918
Bush has a 34% approval rating in the US. I wouldnt take any of what he says seriously.\n\nAnyway. I wish people would focus on the real issues.