Now Barack is less popular than George W Bush!
HE left office as the most unpopular president in modern US history.
But, six years on, George W Bush now has a higher approval rating than President Barack Obama.
Voters are blaming Mr Obama for the rise of IS in Iraq and Syria.
A poll of Americans found that 52 per cent had a favourable impression of Mr Bush, who launched the war on terror after the September 11 attacks in 2001.
With Mr Obama, 49 per cent of people gave him the thumbs up in a dramatic slump in his popularity.
The turnaround in Mr Bush’s fortunes is all the more remarkable because his approval ratings stood at just 33 per cent in February 2009 upon leaving office.
That left him even more disliked than President Nixon, who was forced to quit because of the Watergate scandal. A year ago Mr Bush had a favourability rating of 46 per cent.
He was succeeded at the White House by Mr Obama, who was liked by 68 per cent of people when he came into office – the highest ratings of any president since John F Kennedy.
But after controversies over Obamacare, his signature health care law, and the stalling economy, voters have turned against him.
A CNN poll found that the crucial factor was Mr Obama’s handling of IS. He was ridiculed last year for saying he did not have a ‘strategy’ for handling the terror group.
David Gergen, a former adviser to Presidents Nixon, Ford, Reagan and Clinton, said the passage of time had made people forget the bad parts of Mr Bush’s legacy.
‘The blame is shifting on Iraq from Bush to Obama,’ he said. ‘For a long time, from when Obama first took office, most Americans blamed George W Bush for the mess in Iraq.
‘In this new poll it’s about even, they blame both men about the same.’
Mr Bush, 68, has lived a relatively quiet life since leaving office. He has undertaken extensive charity work with war veterans and published a memoir in which he was philosophical about how history would see him. He wrote: ‘Whatever the verdict on my presidency, I’m comfortable with the fact that I won’t be around to hear it’.