US Executive - What Makes A Successful President

Letter:	What It Stands For:	How:	Successes:	Failures:
P	opularity	Poll ratings	Clinton	W Bush, Obama
U	nderstanding Of Washington Politics	Be in the Senate before you become POTUS	Obama, Bush Nixon	Trump
M	oral Authority	Family man? Charming?	Obama, Bush, JFK	Clinton
P	ower Of Persuasion	Only with the majority in both houses	Reagan	Almost all POTUS
U	nderstanding Of International Politics	Good relationship with counterparts	Johnson, Regan	Obama
P	arty Control In Congress	Winning the mid-terms	Regan	Almost all POTUS

Informal & Formal Checks On The POTUS:
Congress:	Supreme Court:	Other:
Amend, delay or reject the POTUS legislative proposals	Can deem anything the POTUS does ‘unconstitutional’	Interest groups show their opinion directly to the POTUS
Override the POTUS veto		The public show their opinion by voting
Power of the purse and war
Ratifying treaties
Reject nominations
Impeachment

Five Factors That Affect The POTUS Success:

1. Electoral Mandate: Larger electoral mandates usually leads to greater success. Regan had a very powerful mandate in his second term as he won every state bar 1 (49).
   1. It is very unlikely that you can sweep the whole nation, Regan came close. Experts doubt, anyone will come close again.
2. Public Approval: Elections are short term ways to see who the nation likes but poll ratings are a very good indicator of how well a POTUS is doing in the public’s eye.
   1. Bush’s approval ratings shot out of the roof after the 9/11 attacks. They went from 53% to 90% the day after the attacks. They remained at 90-70% for up to 4 months after. They went down during the Iraq war.
      1. The fact that Clinton had high approval ratings likely helped him not to get impeached. It was unlikely that the Democrats would risk removing a POTUS who was popular.
3. First/Second Term: POTUS tend to have to easy during their first term and they tend to propose their more “radical” policies.
4. Divided/Undivided Government: The POTUS can do more if they have control of both houses.
   1. Control of both houses = higher success and you’re not a lame duck
   2. Hard to do because most POTUS end up as lame ducks. The country wants change.
5. Crisis: After 9/11, Bush’s approval ratings shot out of the roof after a “rallying effect” when the country decided to support him. It helped that he addressed the nation 3 times in a week, at Primetime each time.