Bush is sitting at around 30% approval which is apparently very low in recent history.
So what is the highest presidential approval rating ever attained?
Probably his father.
To quote Wikipedia, “…at one point, was recorded as having a record-high approval rating of 89%. However, economic recession and breaking his “no new taxes” pledge caused a sharp decline in his approval rating, and Bush was defeated in the 1992 election.”
Wasn’t the current Bush at or above 90 immediately after 9/11? I think he briefly had the top spot.
Wikipedia confirms - 92% on October 9, 2001 Opinion poll - Wikipedia
It’s not as though they had approval ratings in the beginning, but Washington did become the 1st President unanimously and was re-elected with the same in the Electoral College, so I’d imagine that he had outrageous approval ratings. It’s a shame that we can’t quantify it. I’d bet it beats 89% at some point in his administration.
According to Wiki, GWB does in fact hold the distinction of having both the highest presidential approval rating and the lowest presidential approval rating since Gallup started asking the question during FDR’s presidency.
That’s called “blowing your political capital”.