I was looking again at this graphic I did yesterday and wondering what caused that big bump in Carter’s approvals between Days 1000 and 1200.
Click on graphic to embiggen.
Like Obama, Carter was elected because he was not the Republican. Their ratings both reflect the fact that they were long on hype and short on actual leadership ability, starting out high at inauguration and sinking fast.
Carter did better at the beginning than Teh Won though. They each started at 66%-67%, but Carter’s went up for a couple of months to reach his all time high of 75%. Obama’s started sinking immediately and crossed below 50% earlier than Carter had.
So far, Obama’s low point has been 40%. Carter’s lowest point was 28% which he hit in the last week of June 1979. The notable events listed in the timeline @ http://www.jimmycarterlibrary.gov/documents/jec/chron.phtml are June 12, 1979 Carter proposes National Health Plan to Congress and June 18, 1979 Carter signs SALT II Treaty in Vienna with Brezhnev.
I don’t know much about that time. I was too busy planning my wedding to pay attention to Jimmy Carter. But just at a guess … Americans didn’t much like him trying to shove nationalized health on us or compromising our national security playing footsie with the Soviets. But like I said … I was busy with invitations and such. So what do I know.
That one notable bump began in November 1979, when Iranian militants took Americans hostage in Tehran and he responded by imposing a ban on oil imports from and sale of weapons to Iran. Both measures damaged the Iranian economy and military capability and the American people clearly approved. His ratings went above 50% in December, then hit 58% at the end of January 1980.
On January 27, 1980, Canadians rescued some of our hostages, but that was the peak for Carter’s approval recovery. As we waited in vain for HIM to do something decisive, his approval ratings sank again, dropping below 50% by March.
He scored a small bump to 43% after launching a rescue attempt at the end of April, even though it failed and eight American servicemen died. But when there was no follow up, his ratings dropped again, hitting 31% by June. Going into the election that fall, he was at 37%. After he lost, he dropped back to 31%.
It is a sign of the total contempt the Iranian hostage takers had for this weak, appeasing President that they chose to release the 52 hostages on January 20, 1981, at the moment Reagan completed his 20-minute inaugural address after being sworn in as President.
You can access and compare presidential approvals (since Truman) at Gallup @
http://www.gallup.com/poll/124922/Presidential-Job-Approval-Center.aspx
polination.blog 
I don’t remember too much of substance about Jimmy Carter either, except that I was already married when he got elected. I can clearly remember his daughter and brother and Miss Lillian, his mother, the killer rabbit and “lusting in his heart.” I vividly remember the hostage release on the day of Reagan’s Inauguration. It was such a slap in Carter’s face that I almost felt sorry for him.
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I would’ve too, except I saw an interview with him done in recent years.
He was asked what he was most proud of about his time in office. “That none of the hostages died.”
Looking back, what would he have done differently? “Sent another helicopter on the rescue mission.”
This was absolutely the final nail in the coffin of my Jimmy Love. His vision of the office of the President of the United States was just so small and stupid.
No hostages died? How about the 8 servicemen? What about the incredible damage he did to the stability of the Middle East by refusing to support our ally, the Shah, so those whack jobs that are STILL running Iran could take over?
When he started hugging terrorists on the neck and sticking his big fat retired nose into our foreign policy without the current president’s approval, I set fire to that coffin and danced.
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Maybe his approval bump was when he defeated the killer rabbit? Unflappable courage under fire? If he ever deserved any sympathy for the hostage release humiliation, he has, IMO, forfeited it entirely by being such a pompous, sanctimonious, supercilious jerk since he left office.
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You got me curious. The rabbit attack was on April 20, 1979. You see that slide downward after the 800 day line? It’s right under O’Bambi’s tie in the graphic above. That would be the rabbit attack approval. ::snort::
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He is such a weasel! Although you’d think a weasel could take on a rabbit and WIN! The Halo o’ Self-Righteousness must’ve slipped just then, and tripped up his bold warrior feet. He was my only Democrat vote. Boy, have I had ample time to regret THAT!
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I feel your pain. I worked for his campaign. ::sigh::
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Amen to what Frankly said.
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NOT a Carter fan, in case I was too subtle…
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ROFLL
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