WASHINGTON,
A
new poll Wednesday found President Barack Obama, who is enduring a
tough second term, topping a list of the worst US leaders since World
War II.
The survey, by the polling institute at
Quinnipiac University, revealed that 33 per cent of those asked saw
Obama as the worst leader in the last 70 years. Twenty-eight percent
picked his predecessor, Republican George W. Bush.
Quinnipiac
said that 35 per cent saw Republican Ronald Reagan, president from 1981
to 1989, as the best US leader since 1945, with 18 per cent choosing
Bill Clinton and 15 per cent going for the assassinated John F. Kennedy.
"Over
the span of 69 years of American history and 12 presidencies, President
Barack Obama finds himself with President George W. Bush at the bottom
of the popularity barrel," said Tim Malloy, assistant director of
polling for Quinnipiac.
Forty-five per cent of those
polled said that America would have been better off had Republican Mitt
Romney won the 2012 election, while 38 per cent said the country would
be worse off.
Presidents typically capture the most
heat while they are in office, and many find that their spells in the
White House are re-evaluated when they have retired and are out of
Washington's bitter partisan crossfire.
Bush, who was
deeply unpopular at the end of his second term has seen his ratings edge
up in recent years. Others like Clinton were popular on their last day
in office and have seen their public opinion ratings remain strong.
The
poll appeared to show a bias towards more recent presidents. Only 13
per cent said Richard Nixon, who resigned in disgrace, was seen as the
worst president. Jimmy Carter, a one-term Democrat whose 1981-85
presidency is often pilloried, was seen as the worst president by only
eight per cent.
The Quinnipiac poll was consistent with
other recent surveys, showing Obama's job approval ratings touching
near historic lows of around 40 per cent.
A string of
political controversies and foreign policy crises have sullied Obama's
reputation. The poll found that by 54 to 44 per cent, voters believe the
Obama administration is not competent at running the government.
Only
40 per cent of those asked approved of how Obama was handling the
economy and only 37 per cent backed his management of foreign policy.
The
survey was conducted between June 20-24 among 1,446 registered voters
and has a plus or minus margin of error of 2.6 percentage points.
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