President Biden’s standing in polls is bad — generating panic among many Democrats and a raft of theories about what’s wrong. I could go on, but by now, the point should be clear: Around the world, leaders of wealthy, developed nations are struggling with poor approval ratings. AdvertisementA similar pattern emerges if we look at the approval ratings of presidents over the last 70 years. Bush, American leaders for 40 years spent most of their tenure with approval ratings above 50%. Not long after that persistent growth gave way to income stagnation and rising inequality, the comfortable approval ratings for presidents became a thing of the past.

Source: Los Angeles Times December 17, 2023 23:05 UTC