This cannot possibly be true

[vraiblonde]

https://interactive.zogby.com/media/

President Kennedy, enjoying a surge of fresh popularity among Americans who have rated him the greatest President of the modern era, surged past Franklin D. Roosevelt for the first time since early 2002, a new Zogby International poll shows.

Roosevelt usually tops the Zogby Presidential Greatness Scale, but Kennedy has rebounded nicely after hitting a low point in 1997, when the American news media was filled with stories of Presidential peccadilloes during the Bill Clinton/Monica Lewinsky affair. Also aiding Kennedy’s numbers: Americans who have a personal memory of the Roosevelt presidency are dwindling.

Ronald Reagan held third place, rounding out a trio of former Commanders in Chief who continue to stand head-and-shoulders above other colleagues in the eyes of their countrymen. Reagan, who died in June, 2004, retained the big gains he made in the survey following his death, enshrining him well above fourth-place Harry Truman, the only President to authorize the use of a nuclear bomb and, in doing so, presided over the end of World War II.

Kennedy was rated as "great" or "near-great" by 73% of those surveyed by Zogby, compared to 71% who felt the same way about Roosevelt. Reagan was rated as "great" or "near great" by 63% of respondents.

Respondents have lower opinions of the five Presidents still living, the survey shows. Clinton is rated the highest, at 45%, followed by George H.W. Bush (33%), Carter (32%), George W. Bush (31%), and Ford (17%).

The current president carries a high negative rating, as 40% said his performance has been either below average or a failure. Clinton suffered much the same negative effect when he was in office, and those negative opinions of the Clinton years have only recently started to soften. As late as 2003, 39% said they considered him a below average or failed president.

Nixon, the only person ever to have resigned from the presidency, maintains the worst negative rating of any modern president, with 47% saying he was below average (27%) or a failure (20%).

Two presidents who are widely considered by respondents to be kings of mediocrity include Lyndon B. Johnson of Texas and Gerald Ford of Michigan. While just 17% rated Ford’s presidency "great" or "near great", 58% said he was an "average" president, and 11% thought he was less than average. Twenty percent said Johnson was "great" or "near great", and 47% said he was average, while one in four said he was below average or a failure.

The pair shared more than mediocre poll ratings. They both came to the executive branch after long and successful careers in the U.S. Congress, and they both ascended to the presidency not by election, but by vacancies created by assassination and scandal.

Johnson was elevated to the presidency hours after the murder of President Kennedy, presided over the Vietnam War that lost so much public support that he opted not to run for re-election in 1968, but also championed civil rights legislation. Ford took over after Nixon resigned, but had difficulty overcoming resentment from those who disagreed with his decision to pardon Nixon of any and all crimes possibly committed against the nation.

The Zogby International telephone survey included 1,031 interviews between Jan. 9 and Jan. 12, 2006, and carries a margin of error of +/- 3.1 percentage points.

Zogby must poll the most ignorant people in the universe for these telephone surveys. Either that or his pollers feed the answers to these people.

What the hell did Kennedy do during his Presidency that could be even remotely considered "great"? FDR, okay - there are some who think his Socialist horseshit had merit. But Kennedy?????

And Nixon is dead last, yet HE is the one that ended the highly unpopular Vietnam War.

Nor do I believe that 17% said Ford was a "great" President. He was a worse ne'er-do-well than Kennedy!

Big Daddy Bush gets higher marks than Dubya? WTH???

And Carter, of all the inept men who have ever set foot in the Oval Office comes in third best out of 5 living Presidents.

This is why Zogby polls have no credibility with me.

 

[Vince]

What the hell did Kennedy do during his Presidency that could be even remotely considered "great"?

Exactly what I was thinking while reading the article.

 

[FromTexas]

What the hell did Kennedy do during his Presidency that could be even remotely considered "great"?

He shagged Marilyn Monroe.

 

[ylexot]

Polling to see who the greatest President was is just in general. It's just like that "Greatest Americans" show that Discovery (I think) did. The results are based predominantly on name recognition.

 

[Pete]

He shagged Marilyn Monroe.

and he shagged Nikita Kruschev

 

[Spoiled]

people dont know what anyone did, they just know the kennedy name, as as more people die off that were around when FDR was president more people forget what he did for the country...


and carter is alwas out doing stuff to help charities and what not, hes a good man, but wasnt the best of presidents... and people only think of what hes doing today... or atleast that is what i assume

 

[tirdun]

What the hell did Kennedy do during his Presidency that could be even remotely considered "great"?

Well, the cuban missile crisis and some civil rights measures, but I suspect that people remember the young and charasmatic presdent who got assasinated while he still had all his hair rather than anything else.

And Nixon is dead last, yet HE is the one that ended the highly unpopular Vietnam War.

And was ousted from office because of watergate. He will forever be listed as one of the worst presidents in any sort of popularity poll because of that. Nixon could have cured polio and would still be ranked near the bottom.

Nor do I believe that 17% said Ford was a "great" President. He was a worse ne'er-do-well than Kennedy!

Can't help you there. Ask enough people and some of them are just going to say something crazy.

Big Daddy Bush gets higher marks than Dubya?

Dubya's marks will level later on. Its unfair to ask people to compare the current president with former ones. People who don't like him will say they hate him, people who hate him will say he's the debbil.

And Carter, of all the inept men who have ever set foot in the Oval Office comes in third best out of 5 living Presidents.

Carter was president so long ago that people remember him as "the prez before Reagan" and will probably just give him neutral marks.

 

[vraiblonde]

Good analysis, Tirdun - I gave you some juju for that.

It aggravates me that Zogby publishes these results like they're the Holy Grail rather than the opinion of uninformed, uneducated people who were called at random out of the phone book. His analysis leaves a lot to be desired as well:

Ford took over after Nixon resigned, but had difficulty overcoming resentment from those who disagreed with his decision to pardon Nixon of any and all crimes possibly committed against the nation.

Most people under the age of 40 can't even pick Ford out of a lineup. My #2 daughter, who can correctly identify photos of Winston Churchill and Margaret Thatcher, said, "Who's that?" when video of Ford came on TV. So I'd suggest that, rather than resentment over the Nixon pardon, he got low marks simply because no one knows who he is and he didn't leave any impression as President.

Hell, his WIFE has more name recognition than he does. When I told #2, "That's Gerald Ford - Prez before Reagan," she was like, "huh". But when I mentioned that his wife was Betty Ford, savior of various substance abusing celebrities, the light came on - "Ohhh! That guy!"

 

[Schizo]

Good analysis, Tirdun - I gave you some....

Don't let Larry see this!

 

[vraiblonde]

Don't let Larry see this!

The genius speaks again.

 

[willie]

and carter is alwas out doing stuff to help charities and what not, hes a good man, but wasnt the best of presidents... and people only think of what hes doing today... or atleast that is what i assume

Carter was one of the worst Presidents and I'm not so sure how good of a man he is anymore. I'm starting to wonder if he is even an American anymore.

 

[2ndAmendment]

Carter is the one vote I regret.

 

[tikipirate]

What the hell did Kennedy do during his Presidency that could be even remotely considered "great"?

* The manner in which he stood up to the Soviet Union during the Cuban missile crisis.

* Declared the moon as a goal within the decade.

* Founded the Peace Corps. (Yeah, well, er...)

 

[slik]

It is pitiful that we've gone from electing our president from a group of the "best of the best" to now selecting based on which is the lesser of the evils.
I can not remember the last time I saw a candidate and said "Wow - this guy is going to do the country good". Now it is - "who is going to hurt us the least or cause us the least amount of problems".

 

[SamSpade]

* The manner in which he stood up to the Soviet Union during the Cuban missile crisis.

* Declared the moon as a goal within the decade.

* Founded the Peace Corps. (Yeah, well, er...)

As far as I can tell - most of what lingers pertaining to Kennedy's legacy is that he was young, handsome and charismatic. He gave speeches full of optimism in a prosperous era. But many of those promises he never finished - and in the case of Civil Rights, was probably more talk than action.

He made boasts about space - but it made greater strides after he was gone. He didn't do much about the Berlin Wall. He got us into Vietnam. He bungled in Cuba, repeatedly. He resolved the Cuban Missile crisis, but made a couple deals that didn't see the light of day regarding that, until much later. To his *credit*, he did one thing that greatly helped the economic boom of the '60's, one thing that Democrats almost never boast about - enacted a massive tax cut.

But most of his legacy is a movie star idol, pop culture image. It's not based on a lot of statesmanship.

 

[Hessian]

I still vote...

Teddy Roosevelt...1st
George Washington...2nd
Ronaldus Maximus Reagan...3rd

Carter can sweep the back porch for all I care....he rates up there with Harding and Van Buren.

 

[donbarzini]

* The manner in which he stood up to the Soviet Union during the Cuban missile crisis.

* Declared the moon as a goal within the decade.

* Founded the Peace Corps. (Yeah, well, er...)

#1) If he had afforded the support he had promised to the Cuban insurgents, there wouldn't have been a missle crisis.

#2) And nobody followed up after Apollo 19(?) so all that money was spent for what????

#3) I'll give you that one, sort of.

 

[SamSpade]

Teddy Roosevelt...1st
George Washington...2nd
Ronaldus Maximus Reagan...3rd

Carter can sweep the back porch for all I care....he rates up there with Harding and Van Buren.

From what I've read of George Washington over the last several years --- I'd have to give him 1, 2, and 3. He was heroic, brave, humble - he was a great leader, and the nation was never worthy of him. We will never see another man like him in this country.

At least Teddy was a Rough Rider - although I've never seen combat, I can't respect a President who's never served.

 

[tirdun]

#2) And nobody followed up after Apollo 19(?) so all that money was spent for what????

Most of the research and advancement had already paid off before 17 (the last launch in December 1972). There's a long laundry list of technological, flight, rocketry and scientific advances, many of which founded or advanced profitable products such as advances in integrated circuits and fuel cell technology.

By the time Apollo 17 landed in 1972, the missions had plenty of scientific goals but few technological ones. Public support and interest were dropping, vietnam was the new news headline and the cost of sending another lander was no longer as easy to justify. 3 Apollo missions were scrapped and the funding and technology was converted to skylab.

 

[vraiblonde]

and in the case of Civil Rights, was probably more talk than action.

Wasn't it during his administration that MLK became a target of the FBI?