Unemployment vs. Obama Disapproval Disapprove National Unemployment Rate
When Barack Obama took office, 7.6% of Americans were unemployed (nearly identical to the unemployment rate Reagan inherited some 30 years earlier). As with Reagan, a rising joblessness appears to have taken a substantial toll on the president’s job approval ratings. From a post-inauguration high of 64%, Obama’s approval rating fell to roughly 50% by the end of the year as unemployment rose to 10.0%.
As the past 30 years have shown, shifts in the public’s judgments about presidential performance are not always the product of rising or falling unemployment rates; other factors can intervene. However, there is nothing now on the horizon that seems likely to diminish the impact that unemployment is having on views of Obama. His situation continues to parallel Reagan’s, whose ratings recovered only when jobless rates began to decline.
Unemployment vs. Obama Disapproval  | Disapprove  | National Unemployment Rate  | 45  | 10 422  | 10  | 40  | 40  | 35  | 8,  | Z6  | 30  | 25  | 20  | 15  | Jan '99  | July 109  | Jan 10  | July '10  | July 11  | Jan 12  | July '22  | Jan '13  | Jan 11  | PewResearch  | Sources: Pew Research Center, U.S Bureau oflabor Statistics 