Note: This chart is cropped to conserve space. The baseline is 40% and not 0%. Click for larger version.

That’s a plot of 14 presidential approval surveys since 2001 began. As we head into the State of the Union, Bush‘s approval numbers are headed for an all-time low.

The reason is obvious: it’s the economy, stupid. As the Dow and S&P sink to 3-month lows, one would be wise to ask if a pro-business Republican president really is the best thing for the economy. Because he isn’t.

Democrats, it turns out, are much better for the stock market than Republicans. Slate ran the numbers and found that since 1900, Democratic presidents have produced a 12.3 percent annual total return on the S&P 500, but Republicans only an 8 percent return. In 2000, the Stock Trader’s Almanac, which slices and dices Wall Street performance figures like baseball stats, came up with nearly the same numbers (13.4 percent versus 8.1 percent) by measuring Dow price appreciation. (Most of the 20th century’s bear markets, incidentally, have been Republican bear markets: the Crash of ’29, the early ’70s oil shock, the ’87 correction, and the current stall occurred under GOP presidents.) — The Democractic Dividend, Slate.com

Now we need a good Democrat candidate to step up and articulate this message. Sadly, at the moment that’s as hard to find as an Enron indictment. (Note: both of the above based on material from DailyKos, which might just make it into my daily reading routine.)

(This entry was changed 29 Jan 03 at 00:13. A cutline was added to the chart for clarity.)

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