We’ve repeatedly shared graphs that look like the one below, showing the distribution of approval ratings over time for the past dozen presidents. The one below is from April, when Gallup had Trump back at the upper end of the narrow range of approval ratings he’s seen. But more importantly, notice how narrow the range of approval ratings is that Trump and Barack Obama saw during their presidencies. In 2015, we looked at how approval ratings for Clinton’s and Ronald Reagan’s second terms compared with Obama’s and George W. Bush’s. The reverse pattern has defined Trump’s approval ratings, with the key difference that independents have been more skeptical of him than they were of Obama.

Source: Washington Post May 22, 2019 13:58 UTC