Elections

Poll: Bill Clinton’s favorability rating at personal-best 69 percent

Jamie Weinstein Senior Writer
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CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Just call him Mr. Popular.

As Bill Clinton took the stage in Charlotte to address the Democratic National Convention Wednesday night, a new USA Today/Gallup poll shows that the former president is at the zenith of his popularity.

Sixty-nine percent of Americans hold a favorable opinion of Clinton, according to the poll, the highest such rating Gallup has measured for him.

Clinton’s previous top rating was 66 percent, which he hit twice: right before his inauguration in 1993 when Gallup first measured his favorability rating, and in July of this year. Only 27  percent of respondents said they held an unfavorable view of Clinton. (RELATED — Cigar Hunter: On Bill Clinton’s big night, let’s smoke his big Gurkha)

The poll also measured the favorability ratings of President Barack Obama, first lady Michelle Obama and Vice President Joe Biden.

Mrs. Obama registered a 65 percent favorability rating, with just 27 percent holding an unfavorable opinion. President Obama’s favorability rating came in at 53 percent, with 46 percent holding an unfavorable opinion of the president.

Biden was the only one of the four to have more Americans view him unfavorably than favorably. Forty-four percent of Americans said they had a favorable opinion of the loquacious vice president, while 45 percent said they had an unfavorable opinion of him.

The poll of 1,033 American adults was conducted from Aug. 20-22 and has a margin of error of 4 percent.

The Obama campaign is hoping Clinton’s popularity will boost Obama’s re-election effort, which is why the president personally reached out to him to give Wednesday night’s keynote address.

The New Yorker recently chronicled President Obama and Clinton’s often unpleasant relationship. Among the major revelations in the extensive piece was that Clinton’s “closest political adviser,” Douglas Band, reportedly plans to vote for President Obama’s opponent, Mitt Romney. Band has since denied the report.

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