Polls and presidents

From Slate:

while Bush still hasn't reached Truman's low point in Gallup's approval ratings, he has earned the highest disapproval rating in the poll's history at 69 percent. (Truman's highest disapproval rating was 67 percent in January 1952.) According to Gallup pollsters, the difference can be explained by the fact that people were more likely in the 1940s and 1950s to give no answer when asked whether they disapproved of the president. Respondents may have been especially shy about criticizing the president in Gallup's face-to-face interviews—which have since been replaced with random calls to respondents' land lines and cell phones. On the other hand, Bush may just be a more polarizing president than Truman was—meaning that fewer people have no opinion about him.

The Bush Administration often refers to the Truman Administration as a model for low public approval at the time, yet with an improved historical stature. Time will tell.