President Obama, who entered office in 2009 promising to be the unifier in chief, is leaving the Oval Office with the nation more polarized than ever, even more than when he took the reins from the most unpopular exiting president in 28 years, George W. Bush.
While he campaigned to “move beyond the divisive politics of Washington and bring Democrats, independents and Republicans together to get things done,” he kicked off his administration with a party line vote on Obamacare and leaves with a massive 67-point partisan approval gap.
The latest Pew Research Center analysis of his legacy found that 81 percent of Democrats approve of Obama versus 14 percent of Republicans.
When Bush left office, the gap was 58 points, 81 percent to 23 percent.
Partisan views of Obama’s job performance are even wider. Pew found a 73 point gap. Just 15 percent approved of Obama’s efforts compared to 88 percent of Democrats.
“That is a wider partisan gap than in George W. Bush’s job approval rating eight years ago (60 percent of Republicans approved, just 6 percent of Democrats) or Clinton’s in January 2001 (85 percent of Democrats approved, as did 35 percent of Republicans),” said Pew. It added, “Obama’s average job rating over the course of his presidency is more politically polarized than any president dating to Dwight Eisenhower.”
Just 10% of Republicans say Obama made progress solving the country’s problems; 27% say he tried but failed to do so https://t.co/k1FlQBe8mV pic.twitter.com/nE8Z3BJxMZ
— Pew Research Center (@pewresearch) December 26, 2016
However, Obama leaves with an improving approval rating, now 56 percent in the latest Gallup poll.
Said Pew, “Average ratings of George W. Bush were only slightly less polarized: While 81% of Republicans approved of Bush on average throughout his presidency, just 23% of Democrats expressed a favorable opinion.”
Paul Bedard, the Washington Examiner’s “Washington Secrets” columnist, can be contacted at [email protected]
