Midterm Elections With Presidential Approval Ratings Below 50 Percent

Ronald 52 Comments

The history of Midterm Elections and Presidents has, historically, not been a good one for almost all Presidents in modern history,

The one major exception is 1934, two years into the first term of Democratic President Franklin D. Roosevelt and his New Deal, when his party gained supermajorities in both houses of the 74th Congress, up from 60 to 75 seats in the US Senate, and up from 309 seats to 333 seats in the House of Representatives.

In the 106th Congress (1999-2001) under Democrat Bill Clinton, his party gained five seats in the House of Representatives, and one seat in the Senate, although the Republicans kept the majority.

And in the 108th Congress (2003-2005), under Republican President George W. Bush, and after September 11, Republicans gained six seats in the House of Representatives, and one seat in the Senate.

Finally, in the 118th Congress (2023-2025) under Democrat Joe Biden, the Democrats actually gained one seat in the Senate, while losing the House of Representatives majority to the Republican opposition.

Otherwise, the party in the White House has suffered major losses in seats, connected particularly with the modern approval ratings of Presidents falling below 50 percent.

So in 1946, under President Harry Truman, the Democrats lost 55 House seats and the majority in both houses.

Lyndon B. Johnson lost 48 seats in 1966; Ronald Reagan lost 26 seats in 1982; Bill Clinton lost 54 seats in 1994, and control of both houses; George W. Bush lost 30 seats in 2006, and control of both houses; Barack Obama lost 64 seats in 2010 and control of the House of Representatives; and Donald Trump lost 42 seats in 2018 and control of the House of Representatives.

52 comments on “Midterm Elections With Presidential Approval Ratings Below 50 Percent”

  11. Rustbelt Democrat May 7, 2026 1:30 pm

    100% accurate.

  18. Rational Lefty May 7, 2026 1:42 pm

    Trump-appointed judge, by the way.

  25. Rustbelt Democrat May 8, 2026 10:13 am

    Starmer looks like he’s going to have to step down.

  36. Princess Leia May 8, 2026 10:26 am

    Paramount’s Paper Trail

    “Two press freedom groups that hold Paramount shares are demanding internal records over concerns the Ellisons have agreed to compromise the editorial integrity of CNN to secure approval for the Warners deal, Status has learned. “

    https://www.status.news/p/paramount-cnn-warner-bros-merger-ellison-trump

  39. Princess Leia May 8, 2026 10:30 am

    He’s a dangerous wacko.

  45. Rustbelt Democrat May 9, 2026 12:50 pm

    Wacko – and note that Glenn Youngkin appointed this guy as his top health/medical advisor.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.

You may use these HTML tags and attributes: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <s> <strike> <strong>

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.