By the Numbers: Survey no longer says

88

The number of years since pollster George Gallup launched his influential presidential approval survey in 1938, tracking the highs and lows of presidential popularity and setting the standard for scientific polling methods. The polling firm confirmed Feb. 11 it will cease its presidential approval survey—one of the last to reach respondents by phone—reflecting the increasing difficulty of scientific polling in a world where few answer calls.

1,000

The average sample size in Gallup’s presidential approval survey, yielding a margin of error of 3 percentage points.

7%

The last reported response rate for Gallup’s telephone survey in 2017, down from 28% in 1997, reflecting the increasing difficulty in gauging public opinion through Gallup’s traditional random-digit dialing of American telephone numbers.

90%

George W. Bush’s approval rating as measured by Gallup after the Sept. 11 terrorism attacks in 2001, marking the highest rating ever achieved in the poll. The lowest was 22% for Harry S. Truman in February 1952 during the doldrums of the Korean War.