Which president is to blame? What is the nature of presidential influence?

For items A through D answer the following question:
How much is any president's success or failure is due to the policies a preceding president or presidents?

A.) 100%
B.) 75%
C.) 25%
D.) 0%

For items E through H answer the following question:
How many years, on average, does it take for a landmark presidential policy to make any significant effects?

E.) 16 or more
F.) 12
G.) 8
H.) 4
I.) 1 or less

I once heard an argument that stated that presidential changes only come into effect at least 4 years after said changes were made .. so I am interested to see what people think (if your answer isn't there, please select what you think is closest to your opinion and elaborate if necessary by responding to the thread)

MusicAdventurer said:

For items A through D answer the following question:
How much is any president's success or failure is due to the policies a preceding president or presidents?

A.) 100%
B.) 75%
C.) 25%
D.) 0%

For items E through H answer the following question:
How many years, on average, does it take for a landmark presidential policy to make any significant effects?

E.) 16 or more
F.) 12
G.) 8
H.) 4
I.) 1 or less

I once heard an argument that stated that presidential changes only come into effect at least 4 years after said changes were made .. so I am interested to see what people think (if your answer isn't there, please select what you think is closest to your opinion and elaborate if necessary by responding to the thread)

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No offense, but this poll is idiotic.

You can't quantify things like this. The major reason why you can't is because while a President's administration executes policies it is Congress who formulates policies and it is the Supreme Court who interprets policies.

So since we have 2 other branches of government how they react to policies must be factored into the success or failure of a President's administration. To do otherwise is extremely disingenuous to the Presidents.

Really, the question cannot be answered effectively. It's impractical to assign a general percentage of how much a current president is affected by the policies of the previous one. Problems take time to solve. Some (few) are quick fixes. Others take decades to solve. Some are hard to measure. Many have felt that George W. Bush hurt our standing in the world community. How do you measure that?

samsmart said:

No offense, but this poll is idiotic.

You can't quantify things like this. The major reason why you can't is because while a President's administration executes policies it is Congress who formulates policies and it is the Supreme Court who interprets policies.

So since we have 2 other branches of government how they react to policies must be factored into the success or failure of a President's administration. To do otherwise is extremely disingenuous to the Presidents.

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I agree, this is why I think more than half of American citizens are ignorant in the fact that they really don't know how our political system works and blame everything on presidents (usually whichever they did not vote for). I think that is where arguments such as the one I posted in the OP came from.

Luna Tick said:

Really, the question cannot be answered effectively. It's impractical to assign a general percentage of how much a current president is affected by the policies of the previous one. Problems take time to solve. Some (few) are quick fixes. Others take decades to solve. Some are hard to measure. Many have felt that George W. Bush hurt our standing in the world community. How do you measure that?

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Exactly .. extremely hard to measure .. something for unbiased political scientists and economists to attempt (averages can be made, a number could be calculated, how accurate that number would be is more relevant) .. unfortunately, people without any education in political science (beyond what little they may have learned in high school) blame the president every time.

Granted, I think the president is a part of the puzzle, but that president has to work with the officials that we voted into office .. thus, if we don't know anything about those officials, haven't met them, aren't familiar with their political stance via examining their history and so on .. we are making ill-guided decisions regarding government officials other than the president.

Additionally, I am not sure that American's realize the powerful effects corporations have on our government officials.

Luna Tick said:

Really, the question cannot be answered effectively. It's impractical to assign a general percentage of how much a current president is affected by the policies of the previous one. Problems take time to solve. Some (few) are quick fixes. Others take decades to solve. Some are hard to measure. Many have felt that George W. Bush hurt our standing in the world community. How do you measure that?

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Good answer. I agree.
Hiya, Luna Tick . Where's Lucy Goosey, lol. Is she still around too?

jackalope said:

Good answer. I agree.
Hiya, Luna Tick . Where's Lucy Goosey, lol. Is she still around too?

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She and I are still good friends who talk/text almost daily, but she doesn't post here anymore.