# Most hated US president of all time? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 5, 2004, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-hated-us-president-of-all-time/258442 "2004-08-05T13:33:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![LionelLives](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/9de053/32.png) [@LionelLives](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LionelLives)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2004, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-hated-us-president-of-all-time/258442/1 "2004-08-05T13:33:19Z")
This isn’t meant to be opinions, I’m just curious as to which presidents in history were extremely unpopular in their time. I vaguely remember learning in high school that a lot of people back in the day weren’t really huge fans of Mr. Lincoln. But what about James Buchanan? Or President Taft? Were these old-time presidents as reviled as a few of some more _ahem_ modern presidents? ---
**Author:** ![LuckySevens](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ad7895/32.png) [@LuckySevens](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LuckySevens)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2004, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-hated-us-president-of-all-time/258442/2 "2004-08-05T13:44:06Z")
Like to give a nominal rating, like lowest approval rate ever or something? Other it belong in GD ---
**Author:** ![LuckySevens](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ad7895/32.png) [@LuckySevens](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LuckySevens)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2004, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-hated-us-president-of-all-time/258442/3 "2004-08-05T13:45:54Z")
> [@LuckySevens](#): > > Like to give a nominal rating, like lowest approval rate ever or something? Other it belong in GD Other than that it belongs in GD :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2004, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-hated-us-president-of-all-time/258442/4 "2004-08-05T14:49:26Z")
> [@](#): > > I vaguely remember learning in high school that a lot of people back in the day weren’t really huge fans of Mr. Lincoln. Did your teacher mention there was a war? ---
**Author:** ![LionelLives](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/9de053/32.png) [@LionelLives](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LionelLives)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2004, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-hated-us-president-of-all-time/258442/5 "2004-08-05T16:01:42Z")
> [@Little Nemo](#): > > Did your teacher mention there was a war? Maybe he did…something about a mild skirmish in the Middle East or something. I don’t really remember. I do remember that Mr. Lincoln was more moderate and so most of the Radical Republicans hated him as much as the southerners did. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2004, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-hated-us-president-of-all-time/258442/6 "2004-08-05T16:03:25Z")
> [@LionelLives](#): > > … so most of the Radical Republicans hated [Lincoln] as much as the southerners did. That’s not even remotely true. ---
**Author:** ![LionelLives](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/9de053/32.png) [@LionelLives](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LionelLives)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2004, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-hated-us-president-of-all-time/258442/7 "2004-08-05T17:43:13Z")
Ok, I was misinformed. No need to get all huffy. Can anyone here actually name a president who was disliked by many people in his time? ---
**Author:** ![Kilt-wearin\_man](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/82dd89/32.png) [@Kilt-wearin\_man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kilt-wearin_man)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2004, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-hated-us-president-of-all-time/258442/8 "2004-08-05T17:55:15Z")
> [@LionelLives](#): > > Ok, I was misinformed. No need to get all huffy. > > Can anyone here actually name a president who was disliked by many people in his time? Herbert Hoover. Lyndon Johnson. Abraham Lincoln. Jimmy Carter. Ronald Reagan. Just off the top o’my head. ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2004, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-hated-us-president-of-all-time/258442/9 "2004-08-05T18:08:02Z")
Statistical approval ratings are available only from FDR forward. Of that group, Jimmy Carter probably had the lowest approval rating of any modern president. Here are the approval ratings found by the [Gallup Poll](http://209.157.64.200/focus/f-news/1163457/posts) for the last five presidents in June of their re-election year: Jimmy Carter (1980): 31% Ronald Reagan (1984): 53% George H.W. Bush (1992): 38% Bill Clinton (1996): 52% George W. Bush (2004): 48% ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2004, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-hated-us-president-of-all-time/258442/10 "2004-08-05T18:27:52Z")
More statistics from [Gallup](http://www.gallup.com/poll/focus/sr040210.asp): > [@](#): > > The average job approval rating for the years in which presidents have sought re-election since World War II is 54%. Truman had a 48% approval rating in 1948, Eisenhower had 72% in 1956, Johnson had 73% in 1964, Nixon had 56% in 1972, Ford had 49% in 1976. . . > [@](#): > > The 66% three-year average of Bush’s job approval ratings is actually well above the average for all presidents Gallup has measured, the mean of which is 57%. The president with the highest term average is John F. Kennedy, at 70%. The presidents with the lowest term averages are Harry S. Truman and Jimmy Carter, each with an average of 45% for their terms in office. The year during which the president got the highest job approval ratings was 1945, when Truman received 77%. ---
**Author:** ![yabob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yabob/32/2821_2.png) [@yabob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yabob)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2004, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-hated-us-president-of-all-time/258442/11 "2004-08-05T18:42:03Z")
I would suggest Andrew Johnson, who would have had his detractors under any circumstances, but wound up in a totally untenable position. If his party had been stupid enough to run him in 1868, he probably would have gotten about 2 votes. ---
**Author:** ![plnnr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7ea924/32.png) [@plnnr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/plnnr)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2004, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-hated-us-president-of-all-time/258442/12 "2004-08-05T19:05:11Z")
John Tyler might be right up there - he was equally hated by the Democrats AND the Whigs (and the Whigs were his own party). ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2004, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-hated-us-president-of-all-time/258442/13 "2004-08-05T20:15:18Z")
Franklin Roosevelt was utterly despised by a large number of people (although I doubt it was anything near a majority) – so much so that they would only refer to him as “that man in the White House.” ---
**Author:** ![Nightwatch\_Trailer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/9dc877/32.png) [@Nightwatch\_Trailer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nightwatch_Trailer)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2004, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-hated-us-president-of-all-time/258442/14 "2004-08-05T21:57:24Z")
[Here](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=31002&highlight=hated+president)’s a previous thread about this. There’s a really good post by **dorkbro** that contains a lot of information. Upon skimming, it seems that Nixon and Jackson stand out. ---
**Author:** ![kniz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/c37758/32.png) [@kniz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kniz)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2004, 5:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-hated-us-president-of-all-time/258442/15 "2004-08-06T05:45:37Z")
> [@yabob](#): > > I would suggest Andrew Johnson, who would have had his detractors under any circumstances, but wound up in a totally untenable position. If his party had been stupid enough to run him in 1868, he probably would have gotten about 2 votes. Folks we have a winner. Andrew Johnson was the first president impeached and it actually went to a vote. His job was saved by one vote. Fact is he was actually just doing mostly what Lincoln would have done, so maybe Lincoln isn’t such a bad answer. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![BobT](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e8cbc/32.png) [@BobT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobT)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2004, 6:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-hated-us-president-of-all-time/258442/16 "2004-08-06T06:23:00Z")
Johnson did what Lincoln would have done except hardly anyone liked him to begin with and he was drunk at his VP inaugural. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2004, 11:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-hated-us-president-of-all-time/258442/17 "2004-08-06T11:00:40Z")
I can’t believe it took 14 posts before Nixon even got a mention. Andy Johnson was a target of the Radical Republicans in Congress. That does not necessarily mean he was roundly hated by the people at large across the country. Similarly, Bill Clinton was targeted for impeachment by — again — extremist Republicans in Congress. His popularity among the people held up nevertheless, as the impeachment was seen as a cynical political power move. As soon as I saw the thread title, there was no question in my mind which president topped the list hands down: Richard Nixon. Anyone old enough to remember the Watergate years will not be able to forget the national nightmare that man plunged us into. ---
**Author:** ![Diceman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Diceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diceman)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2004, 11:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-hated-us-president-of-all-time/258442/18 "2004-08-06T11:34:59Z")
According to Ken Burns’ Civil War documentary, Lincoln’s chances for re-election looked pretty slim until one of his generals (I forget which one) won a major battle in the South. So it would seem that Lincoln wasn’t really all that popular, even in the North. ---
**Author:** ![Master\_Wang-Ka](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/master_wang-ka/32/3325_2.png) [@Master\_Wang-Ka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Master_Wang-Ka)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2004, 11:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-hated-us-president-of-all-time/258442/19 "2004-08-06T11:43:10Z")
I can’t believe I haven’t seen more of Richard Nixon in this thread. According to _The Book Of Lists_, Nixon topped several “most hated man” lists, beating out Hitler in several of them. ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2004, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-hated-us-president-of-all-time/258442/20 "2004-08-06T12:59:26Z")
According to the Gallup Poll, Nixon’s job approval rating (total term average) was 49%, while his successor Gerald Ford’s was 47%, and Carter and Truman tied at 45%. I _was_ alive during the Watergate thingy, and remember no such cliché as a “national nightmare”. The Civil War was a national nightmare; Watergate Nixon gave Nixon nightmares, no doubt, but for most people it was that damned thing that kept pre-empting daytime programming. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-hated-us-president-of-all-time/258442.md?page=2)