A new Gallup report finds that President Obama’s first year in office has become marked by a record level of partisan polarization, with nearly universal approval from Democratic voters and rock-bottom numbers from Republicans.
Obama’s average approval among self-identified Democrats has been 88%, to only 23% average approval among Republicans. The gap of 65% is higher than any other president at the one-year point since this poll began during the Eisenhower years.
This appears to be in part an extension of continuing trends of polarization over the years. From Eisenhower through Carter, the approval gap was mostly in the high 20s or low 30s. Then Ronald Reagan’s first-year gap was 45% — a record at the time — followed by George H.W. Bush back down at 32%, then Bill Clinton at 52%, George W. Bush at 45%, and now Obama at 65%.
Gallup editor Jeffrey M. Jones writes: “The way Americans view presidents has clearly changed in recent decades, perhaps owing to the growth in variety, sources, and even politicization of news on cable television and the Internet, and the continuing popularity of politically oriented talk radio. The outcome is that Americans evaluate their presidents and other political leaders through increasingly thick partisan lenses.”
