According to Gallup’s latest trend analysis on Barack Obama’s polling, this year ties with one of George W. Bush’s as the fifth most polarizing presidential year in history. Gallup’s analysis details a 70-point gap between his job approval rating among Democrats, 79%, versus the 9% approval among Republicans.
What’s more, all of Obama’s six years in the White House are among the ten most polarizing ever with Bush owning the remaining four. By comparison, Bill Clinton had an average polar gap of 53 points despite the scandal and upheaval surrounding his impeachment.
The take-away, Gallup poses, is that Obama’s last two years in office are on pace to make him officially the most polarizing president ever. Should the final two years boast the current average gap of 70 points, it would be it official.
Clinton’s average approval among Republicans in his final two years was 30%, which is a far cry from the single-digit average for Obama. Though his approval numbers have climbed since the low point during last year’s elections, it is very unlikely they will improve enough ahead of the 2016 elections to prevent such an eventuality.
