Warp <war### [at] tagpovrayorg> wrote:
> At least with the two (or maybe three) last presidents of the Unite States,
> it seems that approximately half of the US citizens adore him and the other
> half hates his guts, while the rest of the world practically unanimously does
> either one.
>
>   Has this always been so in the US, or is it a modern phenomenon? Just
> curious (as I don't know too much about US's history).
>
> --
>                                                           - Warp

I can't speak for the rest of the world, but...

For much of the 20th century, each of the two major parties had about 40% of the
vote (NOT the citizenry, just the ones who actively voted) who always voted
along party lines.  The remaining 20% are the ones who decided elections.

Looking at that data, any president who has more than 60% approval (Obama) or
less than 40% (Bush) is rather exceptional.

Although, I think a great deal of Obama's popularity is due to the fact that
He's Not Bush(tm).  We've been able to see, even just in the past year, how his
popularity and image have changed as people have begun to view what kind of
president he is himself.

Of course, the nature of politics and public political debate is quite
polarizing anyway, so you should expect sharp divisions wrt any political
figure.  The fact that Americans have a deep seated antiestablishmentarianism,
and our love of the underdog, means that any figure who gets too popular will
automatically attract a following (which is the same reason bunk theories, like
moon landing denialism, are still so popular).

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