Poll: At same point in term, Nixon approval rating higher than Obama

NEW YORK, Dec. 20 (UPI) -- At the same point in his second term, President Nixon had better job approval ratings than President Obama, a Harris Poll released Friday indicted.

Thirty-seven percent of respondents gave Nixon positive ratings on his overall job in November of 1973 -- just months before he resigned over the Watergate scandal -- while 34 percent of Americans said President Obama was doing a good job this month, results indicated.

Harris, based in New York, reviewed approval ratings for two-term presidents since Nixon -- Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Obama -- noting each had highs and lows during their eight years and had different approval numbers at the end of their first years into their second terms.

Thirty-four percent gave positive marks to Bush, who was dealing criticism over two wars and over his administration's initial response to Hurricane Katrina, in November 2005.

In November 1997, 57 percent were positive about Clinton a month before the Monica Lewinsky scandal broke and as the economy was humming along, Harris said.

Sixty-eight percent expressed approval of Reagan at the beginning of Glasnost and the first meeting with Mikhail Gorbachev and before the Iran-Contra scandal made its way into public awareness.

Results are based on an online survey of 2,311 adults Dec. 11-17 conducted by Harris Interactive. A margin of error was not provided.