Chapter 7 > The President's Foreign Policy Performance > Presidential Success in Foreign Policy and Overall Favorability
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Chapter 7 > The President's Foreign Policy Performance > Presidential Success in Foreign Policy and Overall Favorability |
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Presidential Success in Foreign Policy and Overall Favorability
President Bush’s overall standing relative to past presidents is generally positive. When asked about the foreign policy success of the country’s four most recent presidents (George W. Bush, Bill Clinton, George Bush, and Ronald Reagan) seventy-six percent of Americans say that President Bush has been "very" (29%) or "somewhat" (47%) successful, with 16% saying “somewhat unsuccessful” and just 7% saying “very unsuccessful.” This 76% figure for very or somewhat successful is comparable to the overall success ratings given former President Bush (76% successful) and Ronald Reagan (78% successful); only 63% now say Bill Clinton was successful. When looking at the "very successful" category only, Ronald Reagan comes ahead of the current President Bush at 37% compared to Bush’s 29%.
In the last two Council surveys (1998 and 1994), which inquired about all U.S. presidents back to Truman, the only presidents with similarly high numbers were former President Bush (75% successful) in 1994, and Ronald Reagan (73%) and Bill Clinton (77%) in 1998. If "don't know" responses (which are higher for earlier presidents and therefore deflate the percentages) are excluded, however, Truman, Eisenhower, and Kennedy—in that order—do even better than Bush.
The public also feels quite warmly about President Bush. His 72 degree mean thermometer rating is matched among other heads of government only by British Prime Minister Tony Blair; it surpasses the ratings of the Russian, German, French, and Japanese leaders by about 20 degrees (see Figure 6-8). Only U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell is regarded more warmly (at 77 degrees) out of 16 world leaders asked about. By contrast, President Clinton’s average thermometer rating was substantially lower when he held office—58 degrees in 1998 and only 54 degrees in 1994. (In 2002, Clinton’s mean thermometer rating has dropped to 49 degrees). Similarly, the elder President Bush rated 63 degrees in 1990, President Reagan rated 68 degrees in 1986 and 54 degrees in 1982, and President Carter rated 65 degrees in 1978.
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