Why was Bill Clinton so unpopular at the beginning of his first term?
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  Why was Bill Clinton so unpopular at the beginning of his first term?
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Author Topic: Why was Bill Clinton so unpopular at the beginning of his first term?  (Read 1509 times)
UWS
Junior Chimp
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« on: June 22, 2017, 02:46:37 PM »

The year 1993 marked Bill Clinton's lowest job approval rate that was, at that time, between 35 % and 40 %. Why was Bill Clinton so unpopular at the beginning of his first term?
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Kingpoleon
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« Reply #1 on: June 22, 2017, 04:01:48 PM »

The economy didn't get better, really.
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darklordoftech
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« Reply #2 on: June 22, 2017, 04:40:12 PM »

The early 90s recession was continuing and Clintoncare would have forced one employee businesses to insure their employees.
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Mr. Morden
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« Reply #3 on: June 22, 2017, 05:20:14 PM »

The White House was in disarray, he got bogged down in fights over divisive issues like gays in the military, and he ditched his promised middle class tax cut once it looked like the economy was improving.

Oh, and later in the year, there was the contentious health reform rollout.
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dw93
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« Reply #4 on: June 22, 2017, 06:31:07 PM »

Getting bogged down into fights over issues like Gay serving in the Military
Hillarycare
Ditching the Middle Class Tax Cut
The NRA was pissed about the Brady Bill and Assault Weapon Ban of '94
The Economic Recovery didn't become noticeable until late in his first term (even though the Early 90s recession technically ended in mid 1991, before Bill was even elected)
The botched Battle of Mogadishu in Somalia.
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Amenhotep Bakari-Sellers
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« Reply #5 on: June 25, 2017, 06:44:38 PM »

He didn't have an enemy. Once, Gingrich came in on the impeachment trail, the country unified under Bill Clinton, not never before, because he was under attack.

And Dems were coming from under the Jim Wright scandal of the early 90's, then the GOP had the Gingrich scandals.
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SingingAnalyst
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« Reply #6 on: June 27, 2017, 11:06:23 AM »
« Edited: June 27, 2017, 11:10:17 AM by mathstatman »

Clinton was elected with a near-record low 43% of the PV. Most Bush and Perot voters saw Clinton as untrustworthy, and his wife as power-hungry. The Dem primary was contentious, with 209 of Paul Tsongas' delegates disobeying Tsongas' instructions to vote for Clinton.

Across the Bible Belt in 1992, signs had sprung up, "To Vote for Clinton is to sin against God"-- not only I suspect because of Clinton's support of abortion and gay rights, but also because Clinton was seen as someone who would usher in a New World Order (just as Bush was seen this way by many four years earlier). His (and AG Janet Reno's) handing of the Branch Davidians in Waco helped confirm these suspicions in many people.

Rural, conservative, religious voters, not just in the South but in the Midwest, West, and even parts of the Northeast (especially PA), have had a bad taste in their mouths for the Dem party ever since. After the 1994 GOP takeover of Congress, Clinton, skilled politician that he is, moved toward the center, passing welfare reform, signing the Defense of Marriage Act, and reducing the deficit (with the help of Congress), which helped his poll numbers enormously. The 1995 Oklahoma City attack also helped his poll numbers, with nearly 2/3 disagreeing with the statement that he was playing politics with the disaster, and he was re-elected, marking a temporary hiatus to the coming electoral divide.
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