Why did Clinton's popularity suddenly nosedive in May 1993?

[Ashley Biden's Diary]

Clinton had consistently good approvals, in the mid to upper 50s in the first quarter of 1993, the same as Bush in 2001. In May 1993 they collapsed and he was suddenly in the negative. Was there a single issue which caused this? DADT?

[darklordoftech]

Clintoncare

[Ashley Biden's Diary]

Clintoncare

He didn't announce that until September 1993, which was when his approvals skyrocketed again.

[Beet]

You see, prior to Trump, there used to be this thing called the "honeymoon" period. This referred to a period soon after the president first took office, for about 100 days. Barack Obama's popularity also started falling after May 2009. Dubya's popularity was also falling in the summer of 2001.

[dead0man]

my first thought was his failure in Somalia, but that wasn't for another 5 months.

[Mr.Phips]

A bunch of things happened.  Failure of two AG nominations due to nanny issues, failure of the stimulus plan, the 200 dollar haircut on air force one, the budget and tax plan, etc.

[TheElectoralBoobyPrize]

You see, prior to Trump, there used to be this thing called the "honeymoon" period. This referred to a period soon after the president first took office, for about 100 days. Barack Obama's popularity also started falling after May 2009. Dubya's popularity was also falling in the summer of 2001.

This pretty much.  As long as a new president doesn't act like Trump, they'll typically get a honeymoon period even in polarizing times.

[Orser67]

A bunch of things happened.  Failure of two AG nominations due to nanny issues, failure of the stimulus plan, the 200 dollar haircut on air force one, the budget and tax plan, etc.

Yeah, Clinton had a series of minor scandals/screw-ups that damaged him in the first year of his presidency. That pattern basically continued throughout his first two years in office, though he did win a couple of important votes (OBRA and NAFTA) in 1993.