William_T._Bianco,_David_T._Canon]_American_Polit

Where do opinions come from? 209

FIGURE

6.2

F i r s t-ter m

Presidential

Approval

Ratings

Compared to President Bush’s

approval ratings, which moved up

and down over time, both President

Obama’s and President Trump’s

approval ratings have been relatively

stable. What factors account for the

differences in these plots?

Source: FiveThirtyEight, “How Popular

Is Donald Trump?,” https://projects.

fivethirtyeight.com/trump-approval-ratings

(accessed 10/1/18).

123

20

40

60

80

Barack Obama 2009–12

4 Year

100%

123

20

40

60

100%

George W. Bush 2001–04

4 Year

80

12 Oct. 1

20

40

60

100%

Donald Trump 2017–20

4 Year

80

3

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