Gallup has evaluated first-month job approval for U.S. presidents going back to Richard Nixon. A few points deserve note. First, Obama’s 63 percent approval level is about the same as the average of all presidents (62 percent) going back to 1968 during their first month in office. Barack Obama’s “disapproval,” at 24 percent, however, is slightly higher than the average of the other presidents (16%). Second, Obama’s approval among self-identified Democrats and pure independents rose slightly over the last month. Yet his standing with independent-leaning Republicans and conservative Republicans dipped. The president’s numbers crept up 1 to 4 points among Democrats but dropped 14 points in the last month among conservative Republicans. Gallup writes this about the early trends in presidential approval:
Finally, in hindsight, one president’s numbers at the first-month mark jump out–Jimmy Carter’s. The Gallup report notes that his 71% approval rating at the end of his first month was the highest of any president going back to Richard Nixon – and 8 points higher than Barack Obama’s. Read Gallup’s full report on Obama’s first-month job approval here.
