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Confidence in the Presidency Has Been Tanking for Years
Obama and George W. Bush are both part of a bleak trend.
Americans have no more faith in the presidency under President Obama than they did under George W. Bush, a new Gallup Poll finds.
After just his first year in office, the number of Americans who said they felt either a "great deal" or "quite a lot" of confidence in the presidency began to drop under Obama, and it hasn't turned around since. Confidence in the presidency did start off at a relatively high 51 percent in Obama's first year. But it didn't take long for confidence to dive.
Although there was a similar decline in presidential confidence under both Obama and Bush, it took Bush six full years to reach Obama's current lows.
Bill Clinton had it far easier. Even in the midst of impeachment, Clinton's presidency was able to maintain a high level of confidence. He left office with a 42 percent confidence level—just 1 percentage point off from where he started.
The executive wasn't the only branch of government to see its confidence level dip. Both Congress, which only 7 percent of Americans have a "great deal" or "quite a lot" of confidence in, and the U.S. Supreme Court, with 30 percent, have now hit record lows.
(Top image via spirit of america / Shutterstock.com)
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