George Bush and Obama presidencies now viewed about the same by Americans

George Bush.

George Bush, that one. The 43rd president. According to president No. 44, George Bush presided over eight years of failed policies and left a huge mess that Obama has been unable to clean up, even with Joe Biden's verbal help.

But here's the problem. And it's a big one: The American public is now disagreeing with Barack Obama on that issue, too. A new CNN/Opinion Research Poll shows the pair are virtually tied now in terms of approval of their presidencies.

Americans think Obama has been a better president in his 21 months than the Republican Bush in his 96 months by the second slimmest of possible margins, 47-45.

Here's the even worse news for the Democratic White House:

One year ago when the country had known Obama for only nine months as president, he lead Bush by 23 points. As in nearly 12 times today's tiny margin.

So, the longer Obama's in the Oval Office, the closer the two men have become in the eyes of their countrymen.

The survey also found that in congressional races for the Nov. 2 midterm elections, Republicans hold large advantages among men, independents and blue collar whites, once a key part of the Democratic base.

Republicans also hold a large lead in terms of enthusiasm to vote.

CNN's Polling Director Keating Holland had some unsolicited advice for the president's party mates running scared these last 25 campaign days:  "Democrats may want to think twice about bringing up former President George W. Bush's name while campaigning this year."

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-- Andrew Malcolm

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Photo: Bob Collins / Minnesota Public Radio

Comments

[james]

George Bush, the worst President ever? Not even close...he was by far not the best, but you cant even compare him to Jimmy Carter, THE WORST EVER...

[thomas langas]

Don't you know it just gripes left-wing rags like the LA Times to admit we have a complete boob in the White House now? Stay strong America, November is just around the corner. We can make sure Barrack "Empty Suit" Obama can do no more harm than he's done already, then, very soon, Nov. of 2012 is in sight.

[Lisa]

@Jason1978 -- You want to talk about liars, your man Obama is the all-time champ! From having non-emergency bills (and, no, the blantantly-unconstitutional Obamacare bill does not qualify as an emergency bill) up on the WH website for 5 whole days before he signed them into law, to having the health care debate on C-SPAN, to how his parents first met in when they both marched in Selma 5 years AFTER he was born (pretty neat trick), to his father growing up poor and hearding goats, to reading an article in Life about a black man who tried to bleach his skin white, to promising to serve out his Senate term and not run for president in 2008, Obama (and his teleprompter) is incapable of telling the truth! If Obama said that the sky was blue, I wouldn't believe him!

[Jeb]

I like turtles............but I love Pres. Bush.

[Keith Olberman]

no, eric... the only one who been brainwashed here is you... keep whining and crying...your champions for all the weak in the world... and what war crimes did BUSH commit... Not any as much as Obama for commiting purgery and lying to the world about GITMO... That was his biggest campaign promise... And yet... it will be around longer than us... Good job liberals...way to close gitmo... i have a friend who was there last week leanring interrogation techniques... looks like its going to be around for a while... Obama has commited the biggest war crime of all by lying to the american people...

[Keith Olberman]

Yeah people in a CNN poll the most liberally biased polls in the world didnt vote for Obama... Keep dreamin...

[flowe]

.. Get on the ticket George, make your daddy proud. Make history for your family and this country. First Father and two son's that became president. Now bring Hillary or Palin on as your VP, take your pick. Bring the family on board, and be sure to include Laura and the twins. Step on up now.

[Kathy Schroeder]

I like what they both tried to do, but the Congress isn't letting them work on it. They are trying the best they can. IT IS NOT EASY FOR THEM! They need to get the money down to the lower type people. My daughter needs help. I need help; and a lot of my friends need help. I try to look for it on the computer, but they all lead to dead ends. I need a computer person who knows where to go for personal grants, educational grants, and medical grants. No one I know can pay them back because they either have no money coming in; or are one SSA or SSI. What can be done about this??? Any help that you would be able to give would be greatly appreciated.

thank you very much for your help and interest.

Sincerely,

Kathy Schroeder
iler1939@yahoo.com

[flowe]

..
Do not let these "nay sayers", keep you down. I adore Hillary, she knows her stuff on foreign polictics. On the other hand, I admire Palin for having the heart of a "real American housewife". Please heed our plea George, we need you to step up. Earth needs a strong leader, if we are going to survive.

[tom]

The people of the US are in fact idiotic and completely thought controlled by the news media. So they do believe that Obama was born on another planet and that the Iraq wars were justified. People really need to get a clue. I will say that I do agree with the one guy that wanted to give all politicians $ 35k a year and no perks. I wonder who would. Take the job?

[bruceski]

waaaah, thats all i hear Obama and his supporters still blaming Bush for the problems he Ran to solve. we're coming up on 2 years here folks things aint gettin better. Bush inherited a recession too, didnt hear him blame Clinton. then of course the worst day in our country's history, 9-11-2001. yet eventually things turned around. He made some bad decisions, but i agree he did what he thought was best. people accuse Bush of lying, i dont agree. what about Obamas promise that the stimulus would make everything better? unemployement wont go to 8 percent he promised HA! Obama lied people lose their jobs!

[JScib518]

Interestingly enough, it is a CNN poll. If I saw this headline and underneath, "Fox news" I would have went on along with my day. But, it is the Obama supporting media news.
And, to the previous posts, the Liberals are sounding like conservatives when Bush was in office. Now the rolls are reversed, the republicans have the democrats on their heals....

[Franklin]

Personally like Obama, kind of agree that Bush was as good or bad, howver you want to look at it, ,maybe not as popular. but the reason why the the polls are in favor of Bush, is pretty simple. blacks are a minority, and only 10% of population..

[Lou]

Hey don't forget, this is a left center news channel writing here and I tend to believe what their saying,ie, what their polls show. And by the way, I am sick and tired of the left saying that it's all Bush's mess and Obama is just cleaning it up. Now the first year or so I sort of bought it but now it sounds more and more like trying to find a scapegoat.

[EJS]

It's impossible to come up with anything to say in light of the ridiculous irrationality displayed in this poll. Bush was the worst President in the history of our country. Everything he touched turned to you-know-what. He used a horrible terrorist attack to push a radical right-wing agenda and to destroy the Constitution. when he left office we were entering an actual Depression. I have not been happy with President Obama because he has been too weak and unwilling to fight the right-wing. He has watered down everything he has done in order to placate the implacable and has tried to be "bipartisan" with people who care nothing about bipartisanship, the welfare of our country, or anything other than sliming back into power. Nonetheless, he has been trying to address our problems and do something rational about them. Comparing the natural disaster which was the Bush Presidency, which almost destroyed the entire known world, with President Obama is ridiculous.

[EJS]

To S. Farra: Bush not only lacked elegance, he lied about anything and everything every chance he got. Don't you remember, just for starters, the nonexistent Iraqi weapons of mass destruction? His right-hand man, Karl Rove, is probably a full-blown sociopath. How can you possibly say that Bush was "honest?" My jaw dropped to the floor when I read your comment. and what has Obama lied about? His birth certificate?

[Eduardo yeh]

So what's the point comparing apples and oranges.. this article doesn't make sense at all!

[Adam]

What La La land utopia did you big dummy libs think 1 looser community organizer could do??
Never worked a day in his sorry life but reads a teleprompter so good that since the 06 Dem Convention you fools have been dupped .
Some of you big dummies just can't figure out that all the BS you've been taught is just that.... BS. Now go get a job and do your own to succeed in life cause the Dems and Libs have finally been proven wrong once and for all.

Rock On George Bush

[william murray]

im glad somebody knows how bad bush jr was and keeps telling the truth, god bless you, keep me posted

[Winston]

"S. Farra" said George W. Bush was "honest" not elegant...ARE YOU KIDDIN ME...um...HELLO the IRAQ war was based on a lie that cost this country 1 Trillion dollars...do you know what that money could have done for the people of this country...can you ACKNOWLEDGE that when Bill Clinton turned the office over to George Bush we had a surplus not a deficit..can you acknowledge that 20 Billion dollars is missing from the Iraq war monies....President Obama's only agenda is to help the American People...this man is not "greedy" he's a humanitarian.....he's not out to control the riches that "oil" brings he wants to help people better their lives through education and encouragement....and furthermore who are these "people" they are "polling" they don't give you any "stats" or "demographics" they just say "we did a poll" well i'm not STUPID enough to fall for that...geesh!!!! The REPUBLICANS don't care about average Americans..there "AGENDA" is to make sure this President fails.....they could care less whether your children have health care...or go to college..ESPECIALLY minorites...they live in a "bio-sphere" of people who are "like-minded" and that's who THEY look out for...you know what let the "take over" congress i'm curious to see how things are gonna "CHANGE"....

[Jessica Malueg]

Who is CNN polling?
Liberals, Democrats, and Progressives, because that's all that watches that channel. Get used to LA, most of the country doesn't like the Progressive Socialist Agenda. Most American's lean right on issues of National Security, Financial Conservativism, Taxes, Health care. They stay in the middle on social issues. This mid-term is not about social issues it's about out of control spending and not having any idea of how to pay it back. It's about being in debt to countries that hate us. It's about a foreign policy that about hugging your neighbor and hoping the world will be happy instead of kickng a@@ and taking names.

[Winston]

Erin, you are soooooo.....RIGHT ON!!!!!

[texas]

ATTEMTION:
I WILL NOT BASH OBAMA OR BUSH...JUST THIS, IF YOU HONESTLY LOVE AMERICA, THE LAND OF THE FREE AND THE BRAVE, AND WANT TO SEE OUR FLAG FLY HIGH, THAN VOTE VOTE VOTE IN NOVEMBER!! YOU ARE, WE ARE AMERICA!!! THE WHITE HOUSE IN WASHINGTON D.C. BELONGS TO YOU AND ME.

[emenot]

Bam Bam is a racial dividing presidency, the irony is that he is only half black. I am not against him as a colored president, its his policies that are conducted in such amateurous and careless negligency!

[John Gotti]

No Way. The"UNBORN" never had to FEAR Bush.

[Ronald T]

So, this guy is a criminal and that guy is a bozo. Blah, blah, blah. If your life was on the line. Imagine going down that dark alley or stuck in the foxhole who would you want with you? W. or O.?

[Misty Jean Moore]

Bush honest? LOL
Still looking for that WMD

[john1513]

Obama is a one-term wonder

George W. Bush 2012

[Emil]

Well, Eric Lowin, when you consider that this president looks pretty much like a Marxist to many of us, and that he associated with the likes of Jeremiah Wright (and you know you've seen the "minister" and his sermons although you have stashed them away); and that he has criminal views, in the opinion of decent people everywhere, when it comes to abortion in the late stages, then you'll know that the ones who prefer Bush to him are not so terminally stupid. To me, Obama is not worth one cent, and I will not hold him up as a role model to any young person. And, truly, I didn't like Bush. I was one of the ones who mocked "nucular" and thought we couldn't have a worse president. Well, we do now.

[Jordan]

I think that for everything that happened while bush was in office he did a fairly good job handling it..I mean there was 9/11, the economy, hurricane Katrina, on top of everything else. No one is going to do everything right but i think compared to a lot of other presidents and people who are in Washington bush was overall a good president.