--- title: Barack Obama, George Bush Seen Favorably in New Poll description: More than half of Americans hold favorable views of the United States' previous two presidents, Barack Obama and George W. Bush canonical: https://time.com/4824441/barack-obama-george-w-bush-president-donald-trump-poll-approval/ author: Catherine Trautwein article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-06-19T22:28:25.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T16:13:17.605Z article:section: Politics og:title: Most Americans Still Like Both George W. Bush and Barack Obama og:description: According to a Gallup poll og:url: https://time.com/4824441/barack-obama-george-w-bush-president-donald-trump-poll-approval/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc2c0472995b692dc/6988b64b97cdff99056af2bc/inauguration-letters-presidents.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1024 og:image:height: 576 og:image:alt: Barack Obama Is Sworn In As 44th President Of The United States og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Most Americans Still Like Both George W. Bush and Barack Obama twitter:description: According to a Gallup poll twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc2c0472995b692dc/6988b64b97cdff99056af2bc/inauguration-letters-presidents.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Most Americans Still Like Both George W. Bush and Barack Obama, Poll Says > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. by [Catherine Trautwein](https://time.com/author/catherine-trautwein/) ## Catherine Trautwein Jun 19, 2017 10:28 PM UTC  Former President George W. Bush (2-R), his wife Laura (R) stand with President Barack Obama (2-L) and First Lady Michelle Obama (L) as Bush departs from the U.S. Capitol after the inauguration of Barack Obama as the 44th president of the U.S. on Jan. 20, 2009 in Washington, DC. Former President George W. Bush (2-R), his wife Laura (R) stand with President Barack Obama (2-L) and First Lady Michelle Obama (L) as Bush departs from the U.S. Capitol after the inauguration of Barack Obama as the 44th president of the U.S. on Jan. 20, 2009 in Washington, DC. Pool—Getty Images by [Catherine Trautwein](https://time.com/author/catherine-trautwein/) ## Catherine Trautwein Jun 19, 2017 10:28 PM UTC More than half of Americans hold favorable views of the United States’ previous two presidents, [Barack Obama](http://time.com/4822956/donald-trump-tweets-rasmussen-poll-barack-obama/) and [George W. Bush](http://time.com/4784063/george-bush-photobomb-reporter-interview/), according to [Gallup](http://www.gallup.com/poll/212633/george-bush-barack-obama-popular-retirement.aspx?utm%5Fsource=social&utm%5Fmedium=twitter&utm%5Fcampaign=organicsocial). Fifty-nine percent of Americans saw former [President George W. Bush](http://time.com/4756946/best-memes-2017-so-far/item/george-w-bush-and-his-inauguration-day-poncho/) positively in June, a new post-presidential high for the leader whose favorability rating stood at just 35 percent in 2009. The poll found that 63 percent of Americans felt favorably about former [President Obama](http://time.com/4823587/fathers-day-2017-barack-michelle-obama-message-exchange/) in June, five months after his [farewell address](http://time.com/4631007/president-obama-farewell-speech-transcript/). Americans’ feelings differ starkly depending on their party politics, however, as only 22 percent of Republicans felt favorably towards Obama this month compared to 95 percent of Democrats. The poll surveyed 1,009 adults across the country from June 7 to 11\. It has a margin of error of +/- 4%. [Other presidents](http://www.gallup.com/poll/8938/historical-favorability-ratings-presidents.aspx) have seen their [favorability ratings](http://www.gallup.com/poll/14797/presidential-approval-vs-favorability-ratings.aspx) climb after vacating their seats behind the Resolute Desk. Former President Bill Clinton had a post-presidential rating of 39 percent in March, 2001, but it rose to [69 percent](http://www.gallup.com/poll/157280/democratic-headliners-good-favor-americans.aspx) in 2012, according to Gallup. [President Trump’s](http://time.com/4823514/donald-trump-investigation-jay-sekulow/) approval rating was 38% [in the most recent Gallup tracking poll](http://www.gallup.com/poll/201617/gallup-daily-trump-job-approval.aspx). ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4824441/barack-obama-george-w-bush-president-donald-trump-poll-approval/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4824441/barack-obama-george-w-bush-president-donald-trump-poll-approval/"},"headline":"Most Americans Still Like Both George W. 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