Don't Trust the Poll-ish

To listen to the way it is spun in the Washington Post and crowd on the left, you'd think that President Bush's "all time low" job approval rating was the end of the world:

On virtually every key measure of presidential character and performance, the new survey found that Bush has never been less popular with the American people. Currently 39 percent approve of the job he is doing as president, while 60 percent disapprove of his performance in office -- the highest level of disapproval ever recorded for Bush in Post-ABC polls.

But if you look closely, these numbers are just for Bush in his own two terms, not for Presidents in general. How does he compare overall? According to a 10/17 USA Today article, he compares pretty well:

Every president since 1963 has had approval ratings at one time or another that were lower than Bush's current rating. Those ratings include Lyndon Johnson's 35%, Richard Nixon's 24%, Gerald Ford's 37%, Jimmy Carter's 28%, Ronald Reagan's 35%, the elder George Bush's 29% and Bill Clinton's 37%.

Bush's worst to date is still several points better that the next best in President Clinton, and substantially better than all other presidents of the past four decades. Perhaps naysayers shouldn't crow so loudly when Bush is still at the top of the heap.

Note: This dovetails nice with the skewed poll numbers uncovered by Noel Sheppard's post this morning.