George W. Bush may be a very unpopular president, but he is at least not the most unpopular president in presidential history. Bush’s current approval rating of 28 percent is still significantly higher than Harry Truman’s approval rating in 1952, which was just 22 percent. Back then, the Korean War greatly hurt Truman’s popularity, like how the Iraq War currently is hurting Bush’s. Truman also had rapid inflation, ineffective price controls, the shadow of Franklin D. Roosevelt, the firing of the legendary General MacArthur dragging down his poll numbers. Things got to be so bad for Truman that he decided to not run for re-election, rather than run and be humiliated (Dwight Eisenhower became the next president). History has vindicated Truman, who is now generally ranked by historians and political scientists as one of the better presidents of the 20th century – not at the level of FDR or John F. Kennedy, but on a respectable second tier. George W. Bush is an extremely unpopular president at the moment, but like Truman, only time will tell for sure just how bad – or not so bad – his presidency has really been.
1 comment:
To his credit, Bush will not likely impose price controls, even on gasoline.
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