if jeb wants to go to dynasty route he should remind people of his father, george h.w. bush. no one quite remembers what happened during that legislation but they remember they liked george h.w. he s the guy but he s the guy that said read my lips, no new taxes. his approval ratings are higher than george w. s. he s viewed with affection. it almost always happens. believe me barack obama s approval ratings will go up after he leaves office. the question for jeb is, is this really the route he wants to go? is this what he wants to emphasize? i think it is not. i think he wants to emphasize he s his own person. he ll have his own administration and he s not really tied to the past. all right. roger simon, thank you for joining me. i appreciate it. thanks carol. you re welcome.
the november of their third years in office. george w. bush s approval rating was 52% at this time and just starting to rise. that s george w. s, he, of course won re-election. bill clinton s was 53% and rising too. he won re-election. george bush 41 s was 55% but dropping. he lost his re-election bid. ronald reagan s was 53% and raising. he won re-election. jimmy carter s approval rating in november of 1979 was 40% and rising although he got a spike in popularity when americans were taken hostage in iran. by november of 1980, his approval rating was back in the 30s and he, of course, lost re-election. richard nixon s approval rating was 49% and rising, he won re-election. so, cynthia, read the tea leaves. what do you see there? not only is obama s approval rating closest to jimmy carter s which republicans are ever fond of pointing out because they want him to repeat that trajectory. carter, of course, was a one-term president. but i think one of the most telling things was that you
welcome back to hardball. now we want to compare president obama s approval rating currently one year away from election day of that of past presidents. we also want to look at the unemployment rate of past presidents quest of reelection. what does the past tell us about president obama s future? i love this stuff, obviously. our panel joins us again. let s look at this. president obama s most recent weekly approval rating average, this is gallup poll, averaged for the week is 43%, remember that number. and that number has been on the rise. let s look now to how obama compares to past presidents in the november of their third years in office. george w. bush s approval rating was 52% at this time and just starting to rise. that s george w. s, he, of course won reelection. bill clinton s was 53% and rising too, he won reelection.
congressman, but he also worked in the bush administration in the president, george w. s, second term. mr. portman was the head of the bush administration s office of management and budget during the 2006 midterms when republicans lost their house majorities. he was also the u.s. trade representative as appointed by president bush, and, therefore, negotiated with other countries for u.s. trade deals. and democrats argue that he s cost ohio and the country jobs because of the bush economy that they claim obama has inherited and is causing the current problems and because of trade problems. lee fisher is the lieutenant governor of this state, a democrat, and he has some, something of a record himself that makes for an easy target as the number two democrat in ohio. a state with the ninth worst unemployment in the country, he s got some explaining to do. this state also has an $8 billion budget hole and as a consequence because he s the governor s number two, that s something that he has