Politics is a brutal business. One day you are the hero of the nation, and the next, you’re basically a villain in the eyes of the public. If you’ve ever looked at modern polling and thought things couldn't get any worse, history has a way of saying, "Hold my beer." When we talk about what is the lowest approval rating for a US president, we aren't just talking about a bad week in the news cycle. We are talking about moments where the country almost entirely checked out on its leader.
Honestly, the numbers are shocking. We tend to think of the 21st century as the peak of polarization, but some of the most basement-level ratings happened decades ago.
The all-time low: Harry Truman’s 1952 nightmare
If you’re looking for the absolute floor, the name you need to know is Harry S. Truman. In February 1952, Gallup recorded Truman at a staggering 22% approval rating.
Think about that for a second.
Only about one in five people thought he was doing a good job. It’s hard to get 80% of Americans to agree on a pizza topping, let much less agree that the President is failing. So, what went so wrong? It was a perfect storm of misery. The Korean War had dragged into a bloody, frustrating stalemate. People were sick of it. On top of that, his administration was dogged by whispers of "the mess in Washington"—basically a series of corruption scandals that made him look like a typical machine politician.
Truman’s 22% remains the record for what is the lowest approval rating for a US president ever captured by Gallup. Interestingly, he started his presidency with an 87% rating after FDR died. Talk about a fall from grace.
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Richard Nixon and the Watergate plunge
Most people assume Richard Nixon holds the record because, well, he resigned in total disgrace. He came close. By the time he was packing his bags in August 1974, Nixon hit 24%.
Watergate was the obvious driver here, but it wasn't just the break-in. It was the slow drip of the tapes, the Saturday Night Massacre, and the feeling that the White House had become a criminal enterprise. Nixon’s support didn't just evaporate; it curdled. By the end, even his most loyal base had mostly vanished, leaving him with a disapproval rating of 66%.
George W. Bush and the 2008 collapse
Fast forward to the modern era, and George W. Bush enters the chat. In October 2008, Bush hit 25% approval.
Why? The economy was literally melting down. The Great Recession was in full swing, the Iraq War had lost its luster years prior, and the response to Hurricane Katrina was still a fresh wound in the American psyche.
While Bush’s 25% is technically three points higher than Truman’s record low, he actually holds a different, darker record. Bush reached a 71% disapproval rating. That is the highest "hate" score ever recorded for a president in Gallup history. Truman reached 67% disapproval, but Bush managed to alienate even more people simultaneously.
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Jimmy Carter’s stagflation slump
We can't talk about low points without mentioning Jimmy Carter. In June 1979, amid soaring gas prices and a stagnant economy—what experts call "stagflation"—Carter dipped to 28%.
People felt the country was adrift. The Iran Hostage Crisis would later give him a brief "rally around the flag" bump, but that didn't last. By the time he ran for reelection against Reagan, the public had largely moved on.
Why these numbers actually matter
You might think these are just trivia points. They aren't. A president's approval rating is basically their political currency.
- Legislative Power: When you're at 22% or 25%, Congress stops taking your calls. Even members of your own party start distance themselves to save their own skins.
- The "Lame Duck" Effect: Low ratings often turn a president into a lame duck long before their term is actually over.
- Historical Rehabilitation: Here is the weird part—low ratings in the moment don't always mean a "bad" presidency in the long run.
Take Truman again. Today, historians usually rank him as one of the top ten presidents in history. They look at the Marshall Plan, the integration of the military, and the containment of communism and see a visionary. But the people living through 1952? They just saw a guy who couldn't end a war and whose friends were taking bribes.
Common misconceptions about low ratings
A lot of people think Donald Trump had the lowest ratings because of how much media coverage his unpopularity got. It's true he was consistently low—he was the first president to never crack 50% in Gallup's tracking—but his absolute floor was 34% in January 2021. That’s dismal, but it's still 12 points higher than Truman’s bottom.
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The difference is "the floor." In the past, a president’s support could completely collapse. Nowadays, because the country is so divided, most presidents have a "hard floor" of around 30-35% of people who will support them no matter what happens.
What to look for next
If you're tracking current political health, don't just look at the approval number. Look at the disapproval and the intensity.
A "strong" disapproval is much harder to come back from than a "somewhat" disapprove. When a president starts losing their own base—like Truman losing union workers or Bush losing fiscal conservatives—that's when the record-breaking lows start to happen.
If you want to keep an eye on this, check out the Gallup Presidential Job Approval Center or the Pew Research Center for non-partisan breakdowns. They show the demographics behind the numbers, which is usually where the real story hides.
Watch for shifts in independent voters. They are usually the first to jump ship before a president hits that historic 20% territory.
Next time you see a poll, remember: it can always go lower. Just ask Harry Truman.
Actionable Insights:
- Contextualize Polls: Never look at a single poll in isolation; look for the "poll of polls" or averages to get a real sense of the trend.
- Monitor Disapproval: High disapproval ratings (above 60%) are often a better predictor of political paralysis than low approval ratings are.
- Check the Base: A president is only in true "record-low" danger when their own party's support drops below 70%.