This poll does show that the general public still has a bad aftertaste of the Bush era after 4 years, and should be a warning sign to dopey Condi Rice supporters that putting her on the ticket will NOT increase the likelihood that "independents" will gravitate to the GOP, and would probably have the opposite effect (wish they would run some poll just asking about Condi's approval ratings, because I think it would back up my statement... Rice fans live in a delusional world where people were "impressed" by her tenure at the state department)
>> I think I have to agree with you William, Ford and Poppy Bush were more liberal but I don’t think they damaged the party as much, OTOH Ford’s only lasting impact on the country was his horrible SC Justice (the brightest spot for Bush). <<
You may have a good point that George W. Bush did more to damage the GOP brand than Ford or his father (on the other hand, neither of them came into office with the left fanatically determined to destroy them). On the other hand, I think there's a good argument that Ford and Bush Sr. were worse for the country on domestic issues. As another poster noted, George W. Bush mainly dragged down the GOP because of Iraq.
>> Nixon also blew and screwed us over. Taft was ok I guess. I’m “meh” on Ike, undecided on McKinley. TR sure went off the rails in 1912. Agree with you 100% on Harding, the most unfairly dissed President was clearly much better than most of his successors and if only by default one of the best Presidents of the 20th century. <<
We're ranking NON-living ex Presidents now? Nixon's hard to rank, if he was only remembered for his first term, he'd probably be fondly remembered, but his second term was an EPIC disaster and it's surprisingly that it's faded so much after 40 years that George W. Bush is probably less liked than Nixon now. I agree Ike is "meh" (did some really good things, did some REALLY bad things, but at least he campaigned as a "centrist" so you knew what you were getting) TR was "progressive" by the standards of the day but would be considered a conservative on issues like gun-rights and immigration/assimilation today. He did go insane in 1912 but realized the damage he had caused with his 3rd party bid and returned to the GOP fold in 1916 to campaign against Wilson. Taft was a good conservative except towards the end of his term. Harding had way way way too much corruption and cronyism in his administration for me to "rank" him on the good list (he also gets bad marks from me for pardoning Eugene Debs), but it's silly the way historians rank him as the worst President ever. Like Kennedy, he pretty much died before he could accomplish much. Coolidge was more conservative and an honest and decent man who cleaned up the country after what Harding left us.
Harry Truman was less popular than dirt when he left office, and is today rated as a “Near Great” President by historians and public alike, he usually ends up in the Top 10 tier of Presidential rankings.
That’s interesting because Truman was a socialist. He was pushing for nationally run health care 60 years before Obama, invoking Truman, got it through.
I actually think the American people are pretty good judges of the quality of their presidents — in real time. They knew Reagan was a great president, and his popularity was high when he left office, as a result.
They knew Carter was a failure, and he left office unpopular.
Hoover also left office unpopular - with the economy tanking. Bush, like Hoover, left office with the economy in a tailspin, so it’s not surprising that most people (with the exception of a remnant of Bushbots) considered him a disaster.