Obama’s Approval Rating Is On The Rise — But Only Because Tennesseans Hate His Likely Successors

President Obama may not be all that bad.

That, at least, seems to be what many of his opponents in Tennessee are now thinking. But it could be because they don’t like either of the two people most likely to succeed him.

A
poll released Tuesday by Middle Tennessee State University shows that 42 percent of the state’s voters believe Obama is doing a good job.

That’s well below the
national mark of 55 percent, but still a lot higher than last winter. MTSU found that only 31 percent of Tennessee voters liked Obama in January.

It’s also much better than either Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton seem to be doing with the voters. With a month remaining until the general election, neither candidate has majority support in Tennessee.

“Some of this may be sort of a benefit of a contrast effect,” says Jason Reineke, an associate professor at MTSU. “When Tennessee voters look at these two unpopular choices before them, Clinton and Trump, Obama might look a little bit better in their eyes by comparison.”

The bounce comes despite
bad news recently for Obamacare in Tennessee, including a major rise in premiums for plans sold on insurance exchanges. Voters may be giving the president credit for
improvements in the economy.

Obama might also be getting a lift from being on the way out. Presidents typically see their approval ratings go up at the end of their second terms, Reineke says.

One of the few exceptions to that was President George W. Bush, who went out on a recession and with the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq going poorly.

But even Bush saw his approval ratings improve once the torch — and the nation’s problems — were in the hands of the next president.