WTH??? Poll taps Obama as 'worst president' since World War II

[a kennedy]

President Obama has topped predecessor George W. Bush in another poll, but not one he would like.

In a new Quinnipiac University Poll, 33% named Obama the worst president since World War II; another 28% put Bush at the bottom of post-war presidents.

"Over the span of 69 years of American history and 12 presidencies, President Barack Obama finds himself with President George W. Bush at the bottom of the popularity barrel," said Tim Malloy, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Poll.

Of course, Obama and Bush are the most recent presidents; historians will tell you that it takes decades to truly measure an individual president's performance.

Ronald Reagan topped the poll as the best president since World War II, with 35%. He is followed by presidents Bill Clinton (18%) and John F. Kennedy (15%).

Obama received only 8% in the best presidents poll.

The Quinnipiac poll also reports that 45% believe the nation would be better off had Mitt Romney defeated Obama in the 2012 presidential election; another 38% say the country would be worse off with a Romney presidency.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/theoval/2014/07/02/obama-george-w-bush-quinnipiac-poll-reagan-clinton/11985837/

[Dawgs]

1. 33-35% of Americans are Republicans.

You shouldn't be surprised by those numbers.

[LonePirate]

2. I wonder by how much Repubs were over sampled for those polls.

Partisanship trumps facts and history once again it seems.

[Xipe Totec]

16. Probably the only people who still have telephone land lines.

Pollsters don't call (aren't allowed to call) cell phones.

So people who don't use land lines don't get sampled.

[LonePirate]

45. Pollsters reach me on my cell once every six months or so

Whether they are breaking a law by doing so, I cannot say.

[valerief]

51. So telephone polls are totally inaccurate. I have a land line, but I don't answer the phone

if it (1) doesn't state who the caller is and (2) the caller doesn't leave a message. I then block that phone number from my phone, because it's not a real human person who wants to get in touch with me.

[former9thward]

65. No, because that information is false.

Pollsters do call cell phones.

[valerief]

66. ? I have a land line. I have a cell phone, too, but I don't leave it on. nt

[former9thward]

70. You said telephone polls were inaccurate.

I assume because the poster said they just call landlines. It is false because pollsters call cell phones. I have only had a cell phone for almost 20 years now and I have been called several times.

[valerief]

72. No, telephone polls are inaccurate, because most people don't answer them.

When people say it's because they only call land lines, I was pointing out how I had a land line but I don't answer poll calls. I don't even answer the phone for the reasons I stated before. And because I don't want to be cold-called on my cell, I don't keep my cell on.

Only people who want to waste their time answering the barrage of poll calls get counted. In other words, Republicans.

[former9thward]

75. So when the Obama campaign spent millions on polling in 2008 and 2012

they didn't know what they were doing? You think they had special phone numbers? They are accurate overall whether you think so or not. That is why professional campaign organizations use them. The only people who dismiss them are those that don't like the results and those who attack science -- and polling is a math science.

[former9thward]

64. Debunked so many times.

Pollsters can and do call cell phones. There is no law. Go to the Gallup site if you want more information.

[Xipe Totec]

80. Never been polled on a cell phone. If I am I'll report them for wasting my minutes.

I have a right not to be disturbed, and I'm on a do not call list.

Have at it.

[former9thward]

81. I have been polled several times and I don't care about minutes.

If I did I would hang up. There is no right "not to be disturbed". People who believe in that go off the grid and live in rural Idaho or somewhere.

[SeattleVet]

83. There *is* a law, but it's kind of strange...

they are allowed to call, provided they are NOT using an autodialer. If they are using an autodialer, they must have prior permission from you to call a cellphone. They can still call, provided that they manually dial the number.

The Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) (47 U.S.C. 227 , 47 CFR 64.1200) prohibits the use of an “automatic telephone dialing system” to contact “any telephone number assigned to a …cellular telephone service” without “express prior consent” from the party being called.

The political/polls exemption specifically does NOT apply to this section.

Violators are subject to a $1500 per call fine.

When political callers and polls start coming in to my cell, I quote the law to them and tell them to tell whoever they got my number from to stop passing it around.

As you can guess, the marketing companies *hate* this protection provision, and have been attempting to get it removed.

[Sassysdad]

55. from the crosstabs

PARTY IDENTIFICATION
Republican 26%
Democrat 31
Independent 35
Other/DK/NA 7

[underpants]

3. Mission Accomplished MSM (blurred lines) + I saw this on Mornin Joe introduced for Politico to lead

Mike Allen ( human conduit to get Drudge into the discussion) got to lead the discussion.

Willie Geist had to point out that W's numbers are "going up"

PuhLease!!!!!

[MADem]

4. Amongst people with land lines in their homes, I'm betting.

Which is not the population.

But hey, "polls" showed that Mitt couldn't LOSE, donchaknow!

[steve2470]

7. from their website fwiw

From June 24 - 30, Quinnipiac University surveyed 1,446 registered voters nationwide with a margin of error of +/- 2.6 percentage points. Live interviewers call land lines and cell phones.

http://www.quinnipiac.edu/news-and-events/quinnipiac-university-poll/national/release-detail?ReleaseID=2056

That poll astonishes me. Talk about RW corporate media brainwashing.

eta: Reagan got the highest ranking at 35%. It seems like they got a lot of Republicans on this poll.

[MADem]

8. Hmmm..."Jitterbug" cell phones...? nt

[steve2470]

9. what's a jitterbug cell phone ? young/teen user ? nt

[MADem]

12. The opposite--old folks, not too many features, big buttons!

Quinnipiac--Romney...he's still winning!!!!

http://miamiherald.typepad.com/nakedpolitics/2012/05/of-quinnipiacs-polling-demographics-and-partisan-whining.html

I don't think anyone has figured out how to poll in this new society of mobile people who don't want to have their heads picked apart...!

[steve2470]

13. ah ok

I do think a lot of younger people heard the word "poll" and declined.

[MADem]

30. I don't always participate, and they come after me alot.

I have land lines, I'm a very reliable voter, too.

But that's a fair point--if I get exasperated at them, it's not surprising a youngster wouldn't want to waste their time--particularly if it ate up their "minutes!"

[steve2470]

31. I think, in general, younger voters are not as interested in being polled

I could be wrong. My overall impression has been, except for something like medical marijuana, that younger voters are not as engaged in politics.

[MADem]

33. I think you're right on that score--it takes a specific issue to energize them.

If we reinstated a military draft they'd probably get political in a hurry!

[steve2470]

34. very correct about the draft ! nt

[joeglow3]

69. Wouldn't a good study take that into account and weight accordingly

Not being a stats person, I wouldn't know, but I would think you would need something like that to account for the different demographics.

[steve2470]

77. good question nt

[Are_grits_groceries]

28. I don't either.

It is even more crucial now to see who they polled and how. Years ago, a phone poll would have been much more reliable.

[JaneyVee]

37. it says jitterbug cell phones?

[Hekate]

68. Marketed specifically to oldsters, so there's a skew in the poll right there

Jitterbug is designed for people who (a) are uncomfortable with technology, (b) have stiff fingers/arthritis, (c) have failing eyesight. So it is simple to use and has big buttons with big numbers. Keep in touch with your grandkids!

Our only cell phone is a Nokia with prepaid minutes we never use up. As a person in my mid-60s I admit I have looked at those Jitterbug ads with a certain amount of interest. While I envy my friends' smart phones with a zillion features, one of the things that is off-putting to me is the tiny keyboard with tiny symbols.

[JaneyVee]

71. I was asking if the poll said jitterbug cellphones.

[MADem]

90. No, I was asking that question.

It's obvious they didn't get a valid sample--like they NEVER do (Romney by ten points, cough).

[Cosmocat]

11. It is bad, and only going to get worse ...

I am not the least bit surprised ...

I had hope in 2006, but what has unfolded since then has been a harsh wake up call to reality.

Republicans have only gotten nastier, the "liberal press" has sold out more and now basically makes no pretense at being anything other than blatant republican water carriers and the American people have only gotten more prone to greedily lapping up the republican bullshit.

[Retrograde]

73. And don't have caller id (n/t)

[MADem]

85. Heh heh.... "Survey" is another way of saying

"You damn fool, you think I am gonna stop watching JEOPARDY! to talk to your trifling ass?"

[a kennedy]

5. I'm surprised it came from the Quinnipiac pollsters......

D*mn.

[MADem]

15. I'm not. They got raked over the coals for first,

doing random polling, and second, doing "weighted" polling during the last presidential election. Their "random" polling had Mittsy winning in a walk. They had a sense that wasn't right, so they weighted the polls and adjusted the figures--that INFURIATED the Republicans who accused them of "liberal bias."

I think maybe they don't have a handle on it, quite yet. I don't know if anyone does, really, anymore.

[former9thward]

67. This was their breakdown.

PARTY IDENTIFICATION
Republican 26%
Democrat 31
Independent 35
Other/DK/NA 7

I don't see a problem with that.

[MADem]

86. Well, the right wing blogs accused them of weighting

their polls to favor the Democrats, even when they had RMoney winning.

Obviously, the problem was that they weren't weighting the polls ENOUGH.

And, let's be honest, a lot of people who vote for Republicans, reliably, continuously, without fail or exception are these days calling themselves "independent" because they are ashamed of admitting that they're affiliated with the GOP.

[former9thward]

87. I have not found that to be true in real life.

In my city Rs and Ds are almost equal -- always within 100 of each other. The Indies have about 10,000 more than either. We voted for Obama 57-43 which means that Indies must have voted for him 66-34. So, if your theory was true, those Indies must be ashamed of admitted that they're affiliated with Democrats.

[MADem]

88. I'm just repeating some of the trash the wingnuts put out. It's not my theory.

Sample (don't click if you don't like wingnuttery, it's purely for purposes of illustration):

http://newsbusters.org/blogs/matthew-sheffield/2012/09/26/quinnipiac-pollster-admits-probably-unlikely-electorate-will-feat

[RKP5637]

6. Polls AKA Propaganda. Tell me what you want, I'll construct a poll to get you

whatever answer you want.

[Orrex]

10. You can see a hive-mind orgasm in progress about this over at The Discussionist

You've been warned.

[WinkyDink]

19. No, YOU'VE been warned, as has been everyone who finds reading those ignorant opinions "fun."

I CAN'T BE BOTHERED.

[Orrex]

23. Easy there, fireball.

[truebrit71]

49. Which is why I don't bother with that cesspit of wretched human refuse anymore...

...

[Orrex]

50. Yeah, it was fun to lurk at the beginning

But now it's like a caricature of a caricature of Neocon chickenhawk zombies.

[moondust]

14. By what criteria?

Nuthin reely. He blak.

[WinkyDink]

17. Propaganda works. Every day, continually, radio calls him a tyrant, a dictator, etc.

[spanone]

18. 1st president to have a 24/7 network dedicated to his downfall

the faux propaganda network

[Scuba]

20. Approve or disapprove. Better or worse. But not why.

I wonder how many liberal/progressive/Democratic responders disapproved because the President has been too conservative in his appointments or his support for TPP, use of drones, etc.

[Cali_Democrat]

24. Your assumptions are off, as usual

polls have consistently shown that liberal Dems have a high approval rating of Obama.

[Scuba]

25. I didn't make any assumptions.

[Cali_Democrat]

27. This is also true for Hillary

Polls show that liberal Dems have a higher approval of her than conservative Dems.

The issue is a little something I like to call 'The DU Bubble'.

DU is not reality.

Sorry.

[conservaphobe]

39. That would be a pretty ignorant thing to do.

Nothing productive comes from intentionally hurting President Obama's poll numbers because of a few minor disagreements...

except giving the right a new talking point to hit us over the head with going into the midterms/2016.

[Scuba]

40. Yes, he should only be attacked from the right, never from the left. Yeah, that's it.

[conservaphobe]

43. I'm glad you see it my way. Our success is invested in President Obama's legacy.

If we allow this "worst president" meme to take hold, it will hurt us way more than it hurts him.

And I'm sure you'll agree that the meme is complete BS anyway.

[Scuba]

48. Let the conservatives call him "worst", I don't care. I care about policy, and the efforts made ...

... to enact that policy. Promoting bad policy to win the affection of conservatives is bad for America and won't win them over anyway.

I would call President Obama the "Most Disappointing President", not because he's worst, but because I expected so much more from him.

[woo me with science]

47. Thank you. He represents a continuation of the corporate purchase of our government away from us.

Last edited Wed Jul 2, 2014, 11:04 AM - Edit history (3)

Corporate money deluges the system, chooses our candidates, rigs our elections, drives our government's policy choices, in both parties. Obama's administration has entrenched, defended, and expanded the most malignant and dangerous agenda to Americans in US history.

Virtually all of Bush's policies have been continued and expanded, and we are now looking at the most predatory trade agreements in history, that will essentially constitute a corporate coup of the democratic foundations of this country.

Note that the poll, typical of corporate mainstream media polls, focuses on personality and the man rather than centering the questions on agenda and the root causes of the problem. That invites the desperate partisan wagon circling we see in this thread instead of a discussion of issues and what is good for the country....which is exactly what the One Percent who own both parties now depend on to keep us mindlessly defending policies that are destroying us.

[GeorgeGist]

21. Doom is

the new Dumb.

[MohRokTah]

22. Current president will always come off as worst in this poll.

And the longer they do this poll, the more likely the current president will come off as worst since there are more names and most are only familiar with the last few.

Add to that the fact that 1/3 of the electorate will always despise Obama and the results really aren't surprising.

[m-lekktor]

26. reagan was voted as the best? *gag*

[otohara]

61. Red Flag - Red Participants

The Freedumb crowd participated in this flawed poll.

[m-lekktor]

63. ("and romney would have been better") you must be right!

after reading "comments" sections everywhere on the internets i guess this shouldn't surprise me! .

[gwheezie]

29. No one called me

I don't have a landline and I'm am old fart. I think most of the country is disgusted with the government not working. Obama is part of the fallout. I think most people are not focused on why it's not working. The numbers for each branch of government and both parties are pretty dismal. The GOP doesn't care they are going down also as long as they take Obama out.

[grilled onions]

32. There Are So Many Variables

What age group...what party affiliation. People associate their good times with who was in office at the time.....lousy economy,lousy president. If young people were asked they may not even know much of former presidents. These days almost every president seems touched by our "impromptu" wars so if the war of the day is doing "well&quot a term only used by those who feel we need to be in one most of the time) then many will associate it with the president of that time slot. Also election years one side or another will find any way they can to tarnish the other party.
It is just so hard to judge the president without also judging the Congress he worked with(or not as in Obama's case). What president had a worse Congress to deal with? They fought him tooth and nail. Refused to pass bills. Refused to show up to work. Had contempt for his every move. There are so many reasons how a president is judged. We as a party,no matter how many things we disagree with Obama or any other president we vote for it's important to vote and do our part to help get bills passed and to vote out those we feel are a epic fail.

[mfcorey1]

35. Any poll I see from Politico is questionable, especially when it is delivered

with a smirk on the Mooning Joke show. I saw this on his show this morning. I decided to call several friends to see if they have ever been polled. All answered, no.

[cali]

36. the poll is Quinnipiac. Even if they were commissioned by Politico

it's fricking ridiculous to suggest they skewed it against President Obama. Critical thinking would actually lead you to a far more rational answer.

It's a funny thing about Politico: the right hates as being leftist and the left hates it as being rightwing. Me? I think it's just another corporate piece of crap.

[mfcorey1]

56. Cali, Cali, CAli!

I know what group originated the poll. I saw the results delivered on Morning JOe. Just because one does not agree with your assessment, does not mean that there is a lack of critical thinking on the part of the other person. DU allows us to express our individual opinions. You assess what you believe and I will CONTINUE to do the same. PEACE!

[lame54]

38. How can you call Bush a post-war president

[cheapdate]

41. For millions of our fellow citizens, it's a whole different world. And that's the truth.

I was raised liberal in the Deep South and I'm liberal in a deep red state today. I'm used to the fact that most of my neighbors don't think anything like I do. Look at other polls; half of Americans reject Darwin's theory of natural selection, a majority of Americans in the new Pew survey believe that poor people have it easy. It goes on and on. This is America. I have friends who are revolutionary socialists. When they talk about organizing the masses I just have to stay quiet. I don't want to be the one to tell them that the "masses" are pretty much the 4 or 5 people in this room. We live in Tennessee. The fact that Republicans control every political institution in the state isn't an accident. The Koch brothers aren't to blame. Republicans win because people support them and believe in what they have to say.

[BlueStater]

42. The only thing this poll proves is that a good chunk of Americans are morons. N/T

[Mr Dixon]

44. SMH

Whatever

[Robbins]

46. This proves it

Americans are idiots.

Obama worse than Bush?

Country better off with romney as president?

Reagan best president since WWII?

[Art_from_Ark]

92. That's just what I was thinking

All of those results have me saying

[merrily]

52. Before the 2012 election season started (overtly),

a poll said Obama could not win against any of the likely Republican nominees, from Romney to Cain and Santorum. Another said Obama couldn't win against a generic Republican. Thank God good ole Generic didn't choose to run, eh?

Historians are already saying Bush was one of the worst Presidents ever. When historians weigh in on Obama, my interest will perk up. But a poll? Come on, now.

[gwheezie]

53. I would rank Reagan as worst

It was a toss up with Bush the lesser however Jr would not have become president if Reagan hadn't wrecked the country. I've never gotten over Reagan not being impeached and tried for treason after Iran Contra.
Obama had not disappointed me. I think he did better than I expected. I assumed either he or Hillary would be president and they'd get nothing but obstruction from the GOP and their band if goons.

[Pirate Smile]

84. Democrats split their vote on who is the worst and Republicans all said O

[damnedifIknow]

54. Seen it all now

Anyone who thinks Obama is worse than Bush was has bats in their belfry.

[nolabels]

58. How could you have seen it all?

And i am pretty sure i have seen enough


Ps. I think * was worse than Nixon

[kentuck]

57. I would have to believe that...

...any poll that shows Ronald Reagan beating JFK as the best President since WWII is heavily tilted with Republican respondents. This is a poll you might want to ignore.

[Gidney N Cloyd]

59. I'll stick to what historians say. This is just a lot of embarassed W voters defensively digging in.

No one being honest with himself could look at the postwar presidents and say the worst one was anyone other than W, Reagan, or Nixon. W especially was an unquestionable disaster by any measure but his supporters have been so hammered by the rest of us all they can do is either dig in and project W's faults on Obama or claim they're really libertarians and never really liked W that much anyway.

[edbermac]

60. Shit, there go his chances for a third term!

[Spirochete]

62. Well, he is the worst president

since George W Bush left office.

[Chucky-Doll]

74. Bull.

The democrats were divided with their answers in this poll, and republicans weren't.

From The Maddow Blog:

"So when we look at the overall results and see Reagan in the #1 slot, it’s the result of a simple dynamic: Democrats split their vote and Republicans didn’t. (Indeed, among all 20th century presidents, there’s really only one president GOP voters celebrate, while Democrats tend to see a variety of presidential heroes.)"

"I put together this chart to highlight a simple truth: Democratic voters again divided their votes, split between Bush and Nixon, while Republican voters overwhelmingly chose Obama. As with Reagan, this partisan slant tilts the overall results."

Steve Benen at The Maddow Blog uses charts to explain how divided democrats slanted the poll.
http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/the-best-and-worst-modern-presidents


Dave Weigel who is no liberal, points out the same thing:

How To Read That Poll in Which Obama Is Seen as the "Worst President"
http://www.slate.com/blogs/weigel/2014/07/02/how_to_read_that_poll_in_which_obama_is_seen_as_the_worst_president.html?

The poll is bullshit. Just because you want to President Obama to be the worst president, doesn't make it true.

[Spirochete]

89. So intent on picking a fight

you didn't even read what I wrote.
I didn't post the poll, and I don't believe it. Besides, it's only a poll.

[muntrv]

76. 33% is not a majority of Americans.

[napi21]

78. My guess is that people are blaming the President for the lace of accomplishments

instead of the DO NOTHING CONGRESS! He can only do so much alone.

[Politicalboi]

79. I bet Obama is packing his bags over this

This is ALL they have. They live in a fantasy land. If the polls had the time or space to put down what each President accomplished, Raygun would lose. Let's show them in November 2014 what poll really matters. Surprisingly, St Ronnie isn't going to be on any ballot.

[Jamaal510]

82. Raygun accomplished a lot

...when it came to making selfishness and hatred a virtue, and decimating the middle class.

[fadedrose]

91. Bullshit

They must have done the poll at some Republican Dinner for all their losers....

[WonderGrunion]

93. Misleading headline from Politico. Ranking the Best Presidents ...

Obama ranks higher than every other Republican president except for Reagan.