01:54
Leader for a Nation: Public Support for Presidential Policies
As long as the public is behind the president, it is difficult for Congress to ignore his initiatives. The presidential approval rating is a thermometer of the president's capacity to lead public opinion. Just after the election, a president's popul...
01:01
Frames of Reference: Presidential Use of Polls
Presidential approval ratings have become a way of life in reporting on the political scene. In the 19th and early 20th century a presidential candidate adopted a platform at the beginning of the campaign and stuck with it, in part because there was...