Most popular president

[skybridge]

They gained 6 senate seats and about 80 house seats (the latter would never happen today thanks to gerrymandering)

Not that. I meant his approval rating. Is this impossible to find or something?

I highly doubt that ridiculous notion had been invented yet.

Well, the Gallup poll first gained its recognition when it solely predicted a Roosevelt landslide in 1936, so idea isn't too bad.

Washington

He was elected unanimously....twice.

Look at this site's electoral information. The only way it could have been unanimous is if the other votes simply weren't counted. Which they weren't.

[Erc]

Remember, each elector cast two ballots back then...

Washington got one ballot from every elector--and thus his election is considered unanimous.


For all the candidates who have so far gotten votes:

George Washington:  With the exception of one county in Pennsylvania, pretty much universally loved.

Abraham Lincoln:  Not particularly liked by his own party and certainly not by the Democrats.

Grant:  Personally immensely popular, but his failure to secure a third term (albeit in 1880, 4 years after the end of his Presidency) does bring him down a notch in my opinion.

Teddy Roosevelt:  A serious contender in my view, but I'm sure that there were some people that didn't like him...arch-conservatives and anti-imperialists, for example.  And Colombia.  Probably the second-most-popular President of all time.  Can't really blame him for his 1912 defeat, as that was the fault of the arch-conservatives alone.

Harding:  Very popular at the time, but really only in comparison to Wilson.  Forgotten after his death in favor of Coolidge.

FDR:  Obviously always had the anti-FDR league against him, and pissed off a lot of Democrats by running for a third term.  But he certainly ranks well up there.

JFK:  I'm convinced most of the Kennedy-love came after his death.

Nixon:  Watergate obviously taints his second term, and he always had the liberals to deal with.  Plus the Friedman-types, but nobody cared about them.

Reagan:  The Cult of Reagan is a recent invention.

Bill Clinton:  The Cult of Clinton arose solely because the Vast Right Wing Conspiracy hates him so much.

[PBrunsel]

Why the heck did Abe Lincoln get votes.

He was hated for most of his Presidency and only became well liked after he was shot.

[A18]

He was hated for most of his Presidency and only became well liked after he was shot.

Um, he got re-elected with 55% of the vote.

[PBrunsel]

He was hated for most of his Presidency and only became well liked after he was shot.

Um, he got re-elected with 55% of the vote.

That's because of the capture of Atlanta and success in the Shenadoah (spelling?) Valley. People voted for Lincoln because he represented Sherman, Sheridan, and Grant.

[A18]

Hmm, okay then. I still say FDR.