Poll: Reagan's Presidential Ratings
June 7, 2004 -- Ronald Reagan is misremembered as one of the most popular presidents, an assessment based more on his skills as a communicator and effectiveness as a campaigner than on public views of his accomplishments while in office.
His job approval ratings, in fact, were mid-tier. Across his tenure an average of 57 percent of Americans approved of Reagan's work as president, tied with Bill Clinton and within a point of Lyndon Johnson. Among postwar presidents, John F. Kennedy, Dwight Eisenhower and George H.W. Bush all ran better averages, and George W. Bush has averaged better to date, despite his current slump.
Reagan has done far better in retrospect, as can happen as ex-presidents recede from the fray of day-to-day politics. Asked to think back to when he served, 66 percent in an ABC News/Washington Post poll in 2001 approved of his work, as did still more, 73 percent, in a 2002 Gallup poll. (Jimmy Carter's retrospective rating did the same thing, rising 20 points in the two decades after he left office.)
Reagan's personal ratings also have improved with time. During his presidency an average of 61 percent of Americans reported an overall favorable impression of him, about the same as the career favorable rating for his successor, the first President Bush (63 percent). By 2001, though, more — 69 percent — viewed Reagan favorably.
Events
Reagan's ratings while in office rose and fell sharply with events. Approval peaked at 73 percent after he was wounded in a March 1981 assassination attempt, but tumbled to 42 percent in the early '80s recessions (unemployment hit a 40-year high in 1982). It recovered to 70 percent in early 1986 as the economy improved, but then dived by 26 points in nine months during the Iran-Contra scandal.
While Reagan presided over what was characterized as a go-go economy in the second half of the 1980s, consumer confidence from that period pales compared to its level in the late 1990s — one reason he was not insulated from Iran-Contra the way Clinton was protected (in terms of public opinion) from the Lewinsky scandal. Positive ratings of the economy never exceeded 50 percent (reached once) from December 1985 until the end of Reagan's term. In contrast, 71 percent rated the economy favorably, on average, during the Lewinsky days.
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