It has occurred to me that what ever goes on in the United States, it is the president who receives much glory and shoulders much blame. The seat in the Oval office is a powerful one indeed. While most powerful individuals have no care for what others think of him or her, the presidency is somewhat different. The president's power is all dependent on the opinion of the people, because it was the people who put him in office, and it is the people who could deny him a another term. Historically, two factors had a major role in shifting presidential approval ratings through the roof or crawling the floors, and they are war efforts and the economy.
As far as approval ratings go, the official recorded ratings go only as far as FDR (Franklin D. Roosevelt)'s second term (1937-1938). It is little wonder why people blame or glorify the president over war efforts, after all, the president has the war powers. FDR's approval ratings rose while he actually seemed to be doing something about the Great Depression which struck the country on 1929. However, with the recession of 1937-1938, his approval ratings dropped again. Come 1939, FDR was forced to use his war powers, 1939 was the day the US entered World War II. With the war effort came mass production, and with it recovery from the depression. FDR's approval ratings rose as high as the low 90%. A similar example of how the war effort shifted the approval rating, was when Harry S. Truman decided to drop 'Fat Man' and 'Little Boy' on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. He enjoyed an approval rating over 95% then. Lyndon B. Johnson, on the other hand, managed the Vietnam war poorly, and so when the war dragged on, his approval ratings were dragged to the floorboards. In fact, some were so far against him, that they protested the war on the streets chanting 'LBJ, LBJ, How many kids have you killed today?!'.
What I don't understand is why people put such blame on the presidents for a bad economy. My guess is that few realize that the president has no control over the economy. People just like to think it is so, because they need someone to blame. For example, when the Great Depression struck, FDR had engulfed himself into the issue trying to recover the country from it, and theoretically he did everything right, but it wasn't he who recovered the US from the depression, it was WWII. Presidents such as Dwight D. Eisenhower, George H W. Bush, and Bill Clinton enjoyed good approval ratings thanks to a bountiful economy. A famous example of how the president is blamed for the worsened economy is one, George W. Bush, who set an all time record of deficits. Although his reasons for his actions were well justified, a fair few still blames his administration for the worsened economy. What people don't realize is that he spent trillions pouring money into the stock market when it appeared to be on the verge of crashing, which probably stopped another 'Great Depression', and caused the deficits. Again, except for extreme cases, the president has no real control over the economy but, he is still credited for it. Which is why George W. Bush suffered a drop of approval rates ever since his first year in office.
If you wish to see the official poll for yourself, visit...
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