I can remember people having a beef with Nixon even though he resigned when I was five years old. (One of my earliest memories is my mother sitting me in front of the TV on August 8, 1974 and telling me, “Pay attention. You’ll want to remember this.”) I don’t know whether a five-year-old today (even a budding news junkie like I was) would know that Bush is despised by many.
There isn’t any objective measure of hatred, since hatred is a subjective emotion. It is just difficult to believe that the US would go overwhelmingly for a President who was generally hated.
If you want to change the question to “who is the most generally hated President on the SDMB”, then Bush Jr. would win hands down, and Reagan a close second. And third place will be whichever Republican wins the White House next, until the second or third year of his or her term, when s/he will move into second place. And, upon re-election, into first. Y’all aren’t the most gracious losers I ever saw. 
Of course, it remains an open question how accurate a gauge of ‘general hatred’ is the judgement of a board where “Reagan was worse than Stalin” is treated as a serious opinion.
Regards,
Shodan
It is a subjective measurement. So is “loved”. Reagan was very polarizing. Particularly amongst certain subgroups. For example, loved by the religious right. However, IIRC from exit polls Reagan was pulling in less than 10% of the black vote when he won in 1984 in a landslide. I’ve gotta figure that Nixon, being economically not very right wing, was more popular amongst blacks than Reagan.
And then we have someone like Ford. Lots of folks were in the middle about feelings toward Ford, with few fully in the love or hate camp.
Again, if “loved” means “voted for”, then most of the country “loved” Reagan.
We aren’t talking about subgroups. The OP says “generally”.
Regards,
Shodan
Pretty much every candidate in every election I have voted for I didn’t “love”. Usually it was more I found that candidate the lesser of the 2 evils. I hardly “loved” Kerry. But if the only other name of the ballot against Bush was Satan, I’d have voted for Satan. At least Satan is honest about being evil, thus making him the lesser of the 2 evils.
The relative lack of virol for Bush Sr. and Richard Nixon seems to pop this theory of yours.
I’d hypothesize that GWB and Reagan get the most disdain because this board is focused on fighting ignorance, and those two were/are spreading it in record amounts.
To the contrary, Truman, Nixon, Carter, and Bush Sr. all had lower approval ratings. From the Associated Press, August 14, 2005:
[quote]
President Bush’s standing with an American public anxious about Iraq and the nation’s direction is lower than that of the last two men who won re-election to the White House — Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton — at this point in their second terms.
But solid backing from his base supporters has kept Bush from sinking to the depths reached by former presidents Harry Truman, Richard Nixon, Jimmy Carter and Bush’s father.[/qoute]
As a member of a college fraternity, I have to ask --what in the world does a fraternity have to do with this?
This makes, unsurprisingly, no sense whatever.
Then in your case, not voting for a candidate is a mark of hatred. If that were generally true, then Clinton was more generally hated both in 1992 and in 1996 than Bush in 2004.
And I expect that on the SDMB at least, this is generally true. The sentiment that “I would vote for absolutely anybody at all, no matter who, in preference to Bush because I hate him obsessively” is literally true. There were a number of threads before the election in which posters said so.
Regards,
Shodan
"Drunken Frat brat" Is a derogatory phrased that would apply to the Very rich who cruise through college partying because Daddy will take care of them and buy their grades.
It was a flippant remark and should not be taken as an offense to the many fraternity brothers who are seriously pursuing their studies and relying on scholarships and loans or parental second mortgages to get a degree.
If you took offense from the usage please forgive me.
I could have instead used the phrase “Spoiled Brat” as that was close to what I was going for.
It is possible the phrase is not used outside the North East of USA, I am not sure of your locale. It is not uncommon as a very derogatory statement in this area.
Looking at Bush’s grades at Yale (or Kerry’s, for that matter), I would have to say that money clearly cannot buy good grades.
You got me there. It’s just a silly expression.
And America apparently loved Al Gore more than George Bush. But, like Tina Turner said, what’s love got to do with it?
Nothing to do with the OP, which was talking about Presidents and hatred.
Regards,
Shodan
Nixon: He did some very dishonest things - which he will never be forgiven or forgotten for. But I would like to mention the Clean Air Act and the Clean Water Act as some positive things that came out of his administration. Our rivers are no longer green and foamy (well at least in most places), and I can swim in rivers now that people used to have to hold their noses when they drove by when I was a kid.
Carter: As BobLIbDem mentioned, he was looked upon as incompetent, but indeed he was the person who brokered the deal for the hostage release, it was only for spite that Iran held off until minutes after Reagan was sworn in to release them. I believe he is one of the best humanitarians that ever held office and many of his personal characteristics I admire greatly. I admit, he was seen as weak by the public and that did him in as president.
Reagan: Lots o’ Charisma. I found him to be a bit simple and I did not trust him with the big red “Nuke Em” button. And Reaganomics??? HA!
Ford and Bush I: Eh.
Clinton: I think he is a very intelligent man, and I trusted him to be fully informed (and understand the issues) in making decisions. The whole sex scandal thing was ridiculous (I don’t CARE who’s sleeping with whom). I can understand the perception of him being “slick” though.
Bush II: I just. don’t. get. it. My read is that he is a barely literate spoiled kid who gets to play president because his daddy did. I am completely incapable of understanding the mindset behind this administration. I agree that it seems to be one of the most secretive and deceptive administrations ever. Oh - and remember the Clean Air and Clean Water Acts??? Let’s hope he doesn’t get those puppies completely dismantled before he’s done. I mean come on, we all NEED clean water and air.
That said - I have to go back to Nixon as probably the most hated at this point - but in the future I see Bush II catching up.
Approval ratings at end-of-term are probably a good metric:
Bush II isn’t done yet, but his current approval rating is in the low 40s in most polls (39 in one recent one, but that’s probably an outlier).
So, most despised, so far, would be Nixon. Least is Clinton.
Ooops, linky.
I’m sure Shodan will disagree with the number you posted, but you made me feel good. Matches my 1 & 2 & Nixon being most hated.
Only if the polling data is accurate to within 1%, which I doubt. Therefore, it would be more accurate to say “least” is a tie between Clinton and Reagan.
The Kennedy numbers are not of the same kind, since he didn’t finish his term voluntarily. He probably would have won a second term, and if he followed LBJ’s policies of getting more deeply involved in Vietnam (which seems likely), I doubt very seriously he would have finished a 2nd term with approval ratings in the 60s…
I’ll be very surprised if Bush, bad as he is and as bad as Iraq currently is, will finish up worse than this. It would mean he has almost completely lost his base…something I highly doubt.
I’d be willing to wager Bush also beats out this number…but I wouldn’t be the farm on it.
I disagree. This only shows how well liked/disliked a president is during his time. There are plenty of presidents who were very much disliked or liked during their time and who’s reputations went up or down as their actions were put into a historical context…I guess its all in how you read the OP. Taken your way though it seems Nixon is the clear winner with Carter running a close second. GW is still too early to tell…by his current numbers he’s either second or third depending on who’s numbers you believe and what the margin of error was on both.
-XT