Rep. Michele Bachmann.<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/gageskidmore/5854746578/">Gage Skidmore</a>/Flickr
During Thursday’s Google/Fox News debate, Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) continued her pattern of making factually suspect statements. At one point, she claimed that “President Obama has the lowest public approval ratings of any president in modern times.” Granted, it might all depend on how one defines “modern times.” But if we are to interpret “modern times” as including the presidencies of any one other than Barack Obama, then we have to consider the following:
George W. Bush clocked in at a low-point of 25 percent; Truman sank to 22 percent in a 1952 Gallup poll; Nixon hit a low of 24 percent just days before his resignation; and Carter sank to 28 percent.
President Obama has thus far experienced a Gallup low of 38 percent. By the laws of first-grade basic math, Obama has sixteen points to go before tying the lowest presidential approval rating Gallup has on record.
