President Obama is now one of our most popular recent presidents. That’s terrific news for him but it may be even better news for Hillary Clinton.
Obama’s approval rate just jumped up to 56-percent according to the latest ABC News/Washington Post poll. ABC News notes that puts Obama on par with our most recent popular presidents, Bill Clinton (57-percent) and Ronald Reagan (56-percent). Obama nearly doubles predecessor George W. Bush’s 29-percent.
A recent CNN/ORC poll makes Obama the most popular recent second-term president at this point in office:
“It’s not just Obama’s approval ratings that are on the rise—his favorability has also climbed and stands at 53% now, up from 48% in December.
That figure means that at this stage of his presidency, Obama ranks as the most positively-viewed recent second term president. Both Bill Clinton and Ronald Reagan were viewed favorably by just under half of adults in the spring or summer of their final years in office, while George W. Bush’s favorability rating stood at 38% in summer 2008.”
As ABC News explained, this should benefit Clinton because President Obama looks forward to some serious campaigning for her.
But wait, there’s more. Despite the desire for change among voters, history may also be on Clinton’s side thanks to Obama’s popularity:
“Registered voters by 56-39 percent say they’d rather see the next president set the nation in a new direction from Obama’s rather than continuing his course. ‘New direction’ voters favor Trump over Clinton by a wide margin, 64-26 percent – but those who want to stay Obama’s course back Clinton even more widely, 87-6 percent.
It’s notable, too, that the number of Americans who prefer a new direction is about the same now as it was at this stage of Reagan’s presidency – when the nation went on, nonetheless, to elect Reagan’s vice president George H.W. Bush, to the top job.”
Here’s hoping that history repeats itself.
Watch George Stephanopoulos, in the video below, reveal the many ways the latest ABC poll shows Clinton surging and Donald Trump sinking, even within his own party.
It was the prelude to Stephanopoulos’ interview with Mitch McConnell. And let’s just say McConnell probably didn’t help Trump much.
