The president’s second term has been marred by humiliations and setbacks. From the IRS, VA, and AP scandals to the botched Obamacare website rollout, the 44th president of the United States can’t seem to catch a break. And as a consequence, the public has bestowed upon him the most uncharitable of titles, according to a freshly-released Quinnipiac University poll: the worst American president since FDR:
President Barack Obama is the worst president since World War II, 33 percent of American voters say in a Quinnipiac University National Poll released today. Another 28 percent pick President George W. Bush.
Ronald Reagan is the best president since WWII, 35 percent of voters say, with 18 percent for Bill Clinton, 15 percent for John F. Kennedy and 8 percent for Obama, the independent Quinnipiac (KWIN-uh-pe-ack) University poll finds. Among Democrats, 34 percent say Clinton is the best president, with 18 percent each for Obama and Kennedy.
Meanwhile, more respondents now say the country would be “better off” if Mitt Romney took the presidential oath of office in 2012 instead of the incumbent. Brutal:
America would be better off if Republican Mitt Romney had won the 2012 presidential election, 45 percent of voters say, while 38 percent say the country would be worse off
Missing Mitt are Republicans 84 - 5 percent and independent voters 47 - 33 percent, while Democrats say 74 - 10 percent that the U.S. would be worse off with Romney
"Over the span of 69 years of American history and 12 presidencies, President Barack Obama finds himself with President George W. Bush at the bottom of the popularity barrel," said Tim Malloy, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Poll.
What’s done is done. The point of term limits and quadrennial elections is to give the people regular intervals and opportunities to elect their commander-in-chief. But the American people chose their president in 2012, and therefore must now live with what they have wrought. Whether President Obama is already a lame-duck president, meanwhile, is already being vigorously debated and discussed. But what cannot be debated and discussed is that the president will be the nation’s chief executive at least for another few years.
Can he rehabilitate his image and save his presidency in what little time he has left? Judging by this and other similarly conducted polls, I’d say he's got his work cut out for him.