Reuters Blogs

James Pethokoukis

Political Risk

« Previous Post

Next Post »

November 6th, 2009

Unemployment and presidential disapproval ratings

3 comments so far

November 7th, 2009

1:46 pm GMT

[permalink]

Your graphs suggest presidents live and die by state of the economy.
As someone who was a five-year-old in 1983 and only ever has heard praise about Reagan, it is astonishing to see that Ronald Reagan ever had a >50% disapproval rating, and faced steadily increasing unemployment for the first two years of his term.
Maybe that offers some perspective on the current situation.

- Posted by Doug

November 9th, 2009

10:42 am GMT

[permalink]

Those graphs show the correlation between joblessness and presidential approval. What isn’t mentioned is a correlation between joblessness and the health of corporate America. As Voltaire said, “The comfort of the wealthy depends on an abundance of the poor”

There’s a balance to be made between corporate health and social health which this country has had difficulty finding. That is why our economy is so aggravatingly cyclical.

Presidents come and Presidents go, but the constant is the Congress’ love of their jobs. Any entity which ensures their continued presence in the House or Senate will have their loyalty. Perhaps if the Congress were examined with the same scrutiny as the President, we would be able to weed out those who are mindful only of feathering their own nest.

- Posted by Not Unemployed anymore

November 9th, 2009

2:50 pm GMT

[permalink]

refitting these graphs so the unemployment rate has a constant scale reveals that the correlation isn’t nearly as strong as it looks right now.

There’s also no reason for the variable scales, other than to mislead. The range for Reagan is almost identical to the range under Obama.

- Posted by drewbie

Post Your Comment

House Rules:

We moderate all comments and will publish everything that advances the post directly or with relevant tangential
We try not to publish comments that we think are offensive or appear to pass you off as another person, and we will be conservative if comments may be considered libelous.information.

James Pethokoukis is a Reuters columnist. Any views expressed are his own.
James Pethokoukis is the Money & Politics columnist and blogger for Reuters where he covers the nexus of Washington and Wall Street.
Previously he was the economics columnist and business editor at U.S.News & World Report magazine. Pethokoukis is also an official CNBC contributor and appears frequently on that network's Kudlow Report, Power Lunch, and The Call shows. In addition, he has appeared numerous times on MSNBC, Fox News Channel, Fox Business Network, CNN, and Nightly Business Report on PBS.
A 1989 graduate of Northwestern University where he double majored in Soviet politics and American history and a 1991 graduate of the Medill School of Journalism, Pethokoukis is a 2002 Jeopardy! champion. Pethokoukis can be reached at james.pethokoukis@thomsonreuters.com.
James Pethokoukis Feeds

Subscribe to all posts via RSS (What is RSS?)
Recent Posts
tax competition Ben Bernanke inflation recession stimulus economic policy housing policy environment TARP Ron Paul globalization Federal Reserve budget deficits 2010 election gold bond market Lost Decade tax policy budget deficit taxes 2012 election national debt economy green economics climate change global economy healthcare reform GM Timothy Geithner Long Recession cap-and-trade Lawrence Kudlow mustard seeds bond vigilantes Great Recession unemployment VAT economic growth 2008 financial crisis financial regulatory reform Fed Watch the dollar Obamanomics Social Security China
Archives
Blogroll

Reuters Blogs

James Pethokoukis

Political Risk

Unemployment and presidential disapproval ratings

3 comments so far

Post Your Comment

James Pethokoukis Feeds

Recent Posts

Archives

Blogroll