# With W's aproval rating at 38%, ever wonder... **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [April 28, 2007, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/with-ws-aproval-rating-at-38-ever-wonder/401961 "2007-04-28T14:57:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![BarnOwl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e95f7d/32.png) [@BarnOwl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BarnOwl)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2007, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/with-ws-aproval-rating-at-38-ever-wonder/401961/1 "2007-04-28T14:57:27Z")
…what the lowest ever was? Harry Truman won the dubious distinction of 23%. If interested, you may read the short article at [http://www.mysterypollster.com/main/2005/10/how\_low\_can\_it\_.html](http://www.mysterypollster.com/main/2005/10/how_low_can_it_.html) I suspect Bush’s rating will one day beat Truman’s. (Mr. Truman remains as my all-time political hero, however.) ---
**Author:** ![LouisB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/dfb087/32.png) [@LouisB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LouisB)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2007, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/with-ws-aproval-rating-at-38-ever-wonder/401961/2 "2007-04-28T21:22:53Z")
[QUOTE=BarnOwl] …what the lowest ever was? Harry Truman won the dubious distinction of 23%. If interested, you may read the short article at > **[How Low Can It Go? – MysteryPollster](https://mysterypollster.com/2005/10/how_low_can_it_/)** I suspect Bush’s rating will one day beat Truman’s. (Mr. Truman remains as my all-time political hero, however.) [/QUOTE] It disturbs me greatly that are enough Bush supporters left to keep his numbers as high as they are. I suppose his (remaining) supporters must be those head-in-the-sand types who think Pi = 3 and that humans and dinosaurs existed simultaneously. ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2007, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/with-ws-aproval-rating-at-38-ever-wonder/401961/3 "2007-04-28T21:27:32Z")
[QUOTE=BarnOwl] With W’s aproval rating at 38%, ever wonder… [/QUOTE] You misspelled [28%](http://www.newsmax.com/archives/ic/2007/4/27/100021.shtml). At this point, thirty eight would constitute a _mandate_. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![BarnOwl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e95f7d/32.png) [@BarnOwl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BarnOwl)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2007, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/with-ws-aproval-rating-at-38-ever-wonder/401961/4 "2007-04-28T21:47:32Z")
[QUOTE=Squink] You misspelled [28%](http://www.newsmax.com/archives/ic/2007/4/27/100021.shtml). At this point, thirty eight would constitute a _mandate_. 😃 [/QUOTE] Oh Lord a mercy. How could I have screwed that one up! Thanks, **Squink**. ---
**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2007, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/with-ws-aproval-rating-at-38-ever-wonder/401961/5 "2007-04-29T01:30:59Z")
I have never quite figured out what Truman did that was so horrible. Anyone who lived thru his two terms want to chime in? Odd that his current reputation is pretty good. ---
**Author:** ![BarnOwl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e95f7d/32.png) [@BarnOwl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BarnOwl)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2007, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/with-ws-aproval-rating-at-38-ever-wonder/401961/6 "2007-04-29T01:43:22Z")
[QUOTE=John DiFool] I have never quite figured out what Truman did that was so horrible. Anyone who lived thru his two terms want to chime in? Odd that his current reputation is pretty good. [/QUOTE] I think you’ll get a good read at > **[Harry S. Truman](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_S._Truman)** > > Harry S. Truman\[b\] (May 8, 1884 – December 26, 1972) was the 33rd president of the United States, serving from 1945 to 1953. As the 34th vice president in 1945, he assumed the presidency upon the death of Franklin D. Roosevelt in April. Truman set up the Marshall Plan to rebuild the badly damaged economy of Western Europe. He established the Truman Doctrine and supported the founding of NATO to contain the expansion of Soviet communism. A member of the Democratic Party, he proposed numerous... ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2007, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/with-ws-aproval-rating-at-38-ever-wonder/401961/7 "2007-04-29T01:54:31Z")
[QUOTE=LouisB] It disturbs me greatly that are enough Bush supporters left to keep his numbers as high as they are. I suppose his (remaining) supporters must be those head-in-the-sand types who think Pi = 3 and that humans and dinosaurs existed simultaneously. [/QUOTE] To be honest, yeah, that’s a lot of it. During the last election cycle I remember one of the major news sites interviewing a voter; she said “Well, President Bush is a Prayer Warrior, just like me, so God wants me to vote for him.” Truman got a 23% in a day when there wasn’t a wannabe-theocratic movement supporting one party. Bush’s score will be hard to drive that low because the “Prayer Warriors” represent an unassailable voting bloc. If Bush ordered an invasion of Canada and set up death camps to exterminate Catholics, millions of fundamentalist Christians would still vote for him. ---
**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:** [April 29, 2007, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/with-ws-aproval-rating-at-38-ever-wonder/401961/8 "2007-04-29T03:12:38Z")
To be fair, I think there’s more to Bush’s remaining support then just religious conservatives. I think a lot of people are buying the idea that during a war supporting the President is the same as supporting the country. Many people, including some here on this board, feel that you can wave away objective reality - you don’t lose a war by losing it, you can only lose a war by admitting you lost it. They believe the key to victory is to keep insisting that you’re winning. If you accept this mindset, Bush is doing a great job in Iraq - he was never wavered for a second in his insistence that we are winning. So these people support Bush. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2007, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/with-ws-aproval-rating-at-38-ever-wonder/401961/9 "2007-04-29T03:26:10Z")
A blow job from an intern could knock his numbers down into Truman territory. A blow job from a MALE intern would really turn the trick. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![A.R.Cane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ee7513/32.png) [@A.R.Cane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/A.R.Cane)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2007, 4:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/with-ws-aproval-rating-at-38-ever-wonder/401961/10 "2007-04-29T04:13:27Z")
Let’s not confuse military objectives w/ political objectives. The military has accomplished its assigned task very well, given the restrictions of manpower vs. the size of the task and the political restictions. Bush earned his high disapproval ratings through his own pathetic incompetence. If Bush had established a meaningful coalition, to include some solid support from Arab states, and had used an invasion force of 350,000, or more, there may have been a chance of meeting the goal of establishing some semblance of democracy in Iraq. The military has done its job, it’s the civilian leadership that’s failed. Although, I still think invading Iraq was a fool’s errand. There were, and are, other more pressing issues such as the ongoing Isreali/Palestinian dispute and routing the Taliban, Al Queda support in Afghanistan. Thses should have been addressed before even considering an invasion of Iraq. ---
**Author:** ![Diceman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Diceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diceman)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2007, 12:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/with-ws-aproval-rating-at-38-ever-wonder/401961/11 "2007-04-29T12:11:48Z")
I think we need a bit of perspective here. From the article **Squink** linked to: > [@](#): > > Democratic leaders may have gotten past their first 100 days, but the people are not giving the leaders of the House and the Senate glowing reviews either. > > House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has fallen from a 38 percent positive rating in February to 30 percent positive now. Well over half (56 percent) of adults currently view her job performance in a negative light, compared to just 45 percent who did so in February. > Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has also dropped. In February, 23 percent viewed him positively while 47 percent viewed his job performance negatively. Currently, over half (52 percent) see his job performance in a negative light while just 22 percent gives it positive ratings. I’d say that people in this country are just unhappy with their leaders, period. ---
**Author:** ![Jurph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/50afbb/32.png) [@Jurph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jurph)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2007, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/with-ws-aproval-rating-at-38-ever-wonder/401961/12 "2007-04-29T14:07:54Z")
[QUOTE=Boyo Jim] A blow job from an intern could knock his numbers down into Truman territory. A blow job from a MALE intern would really turn the trick. 🙂 [/QUOTE] There has got to be a man somewhere in America willing to take one for the team… ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2007, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/with-ws-aproval-rating-at-38-ever-wonder/401961/13 "2007-04-29T16:00:39Z")
Wouldn’t that be _give_ one for the team? ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2007, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/with-ws-aproval-rating-at-38-ever-wonder/401961/14 "2007-04-29T16:21:57Z")
Bush is at [rock bottom](http://slacktivist.typepad.com/slacktivist/2005/11/rock_bottom.html), if you go by the Alan Keyes Theory: > [@](#): > > Obama vs. Alan Keyes. Keyes was from out of state, so you can eliminate any established political base; both candidates were black, so you can factor out racism; and Keyes was plainly, obviously, completely crazy. Batshit crazy. Head-trauma crazy. But 27 percent of the population of Illinois voted for him. They put party identification, personal prejudice, whatever ahead of rational judgement. Hell, even like 5 percent of Democrats voted for him. That’s crazy behaviour. I think you have to assume a 27 percent Crazification Factor in any population. I personally prefer this, though: > [@](#): > > BTKWB (the President’s approval ratings the morning after he pre-empted Monday Night Football in order to Bind, Torture and Kill Wilford Brimley for his own sexual gratification) has generally been taken to be somewhere in the 32-36 percent range, depending on the theoretical models used, and depending on if he uses up the MNF timespot completely, or just pops in during halftime. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2007, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/with-ws-aproval-rating-at-38-ever-wonder/401961/15 "2007-04-29T21:00:42Z")
I don’t know how credible this is, but [here is a NY Times article](http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/29/world/middleeast/29cnd-mideast.html?ex=1335499200&en=947285158a30e46a&ei=5089&partner=rssyahoo&emc=rss) claiming that polls show Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has less than **4%** of voters “expressing support” for him. Whatever that means, that’s a pretty amazing number. ---
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2007, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/with-ws-aproval-rating-at-38-ever-wonder/401961/16 "2007-04-29T21:06:55Z")
[QUOTE=Jurph] There has got to be a man somewhere in America willing to take one for the team… [/QUOTE] I’ll step forward, but only if I get to use my teeth. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Wee\_Bairn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/90db22/32.png) [@Wee\_Bairn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wee_Bairn)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2007, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/with-ws-aproval-rating-at-38-ever-wonder/401961/17 "2007-04-29T21:20:05Z")
A gay liaison in the only thing that could get his numbers any lower. But then he could say he has been healed of his “sin” by God, and the 28% percent that left would forgive him and return. I’m sure many of them would “understand”. ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2007, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/with-ws-aproval-rating-at-38-ever-wonder/401961/18 "2007-04-29T21:24:09Z")
We never did find out which bedroom Jeff Gannon stayed in during his [sleepovers at the white house](http://www.conspiracyplanet.com/channel.cfm?channelid=65&contentid=2123).