More Americans consider Barack Obama to be the worst President since World War II than they do any other president, according to a new poll.
The Quinnipiac poll out Wednesday found that 33% of Americans see Obama as the worst post-war president, while just 8% consider him the best. Another 28% see former President George W. Bush as the worst. Richard Nixon, the only American President ever to resign in disgrace, was picked the worst by 13%, according to the poll.
Ronald Reagan was the most common answer among those surveyed for the best President since World War II, with 35% choosing the Republican icon. Another 18% chose Bill Clinton, and 15% chose John F. Kennedy.
And 45% of Americans think the U.S. would be better off if Mitt Romney had been elected President in 2012, according to the poll, while 38% think the country would be worse off.
The survey of 1,446 registered voters, conducted June 24-30, had a margin of error of plus or minus 2.6 percentage points.
The early 2020 Democratic primary has been occupied
lately by a surprisingly polarizing question: Should the United States
offer restitution to the descendants of slaves in the form of
reparations? Already, several candidates — notably Sens. Kamala Harris
(D-CA), Cory Booker (D-NJ), and Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) — have said yes.
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) isn’t so sure.
“I think what we have got to do is pay attention to
distressed communities: black communities, Latino communities, and white
communities, and as president, I pledge to do that,” Sanders said when
asked about the issue on ABC’s The View on Friday.
The View’s Sunny Hostin went on to press him further and ask if he would back reparations, in the form of money, explicitly.
“I think that right now, our job is to address the crises
facing the American people and our communities, and I think there are
better ways to do that than just writing out a check,” he said in
response.
This isn’t the first time Sanders has shied away from backing reparations. During a CNN town hall earlier this week, Sanders instead noted that he supports legislation from Rep. Jim Clyburn (D-SC) that focuses federal resources on communities that have a high level of poverty.
Bernie Sanders on reparations on The View: "I think that right now our job is to address the crises facing the American people in our communities, and I think there are better ways to do that than just writing out a check." pic.twitter.com/FXso34iSbs
Several 2020 candidates support reparations, but it’s not immediately clear what that means
For now, the definition of reparations in the 2020
context is murky. At the moment, reparations appear to be any policy a
candidate is willing to call reparations. A recent New York Times story by Astead W. Herndon found Warren, Harris, and Booker backed “race-conscious policies” in some form. The Washington Post’s Jeff Stein
followed this up by asking candidates directly if they supported
“reparations.” Those three followed with yes, though it was unclear what
the policy might actually look like.
As the Associated Press’s Errin Haines Whack writes,
reparations have been “long defined as some type of direct payment to
former slaves and their descendants,” but clearly to candidates that
definition has become more amorphous.
“When you look at the reality of who will benefit from
certain policies … it will directly benefit black children, black
families and black homeowners because the disparities are so
significant,” she said.
A Booker representative has suggested that his baby bonds proposal, which would guarantee all newborns savings accounts in an effort to limit the racial wealth gap, could be a “form of reparations.” Warren, too, has highlighted legislation “that would provide help to minorities in making a down payment on a home,” Reuters reports.
Sanders indicated on Friday that he does not back a
direct payment to descendants of slaves, but it’s increasingly unclear
whether other 2020 candidates’ definition of “reparations” explicitly
includes that either.
January 31, 2019- Marianne Williamson, who is running for president in 2020, states that she supports a form of Reparations for the enslavement of African descent people in the United States.
This is shared for historical purposes.