When George W. Bush was campaigning for president in 2000, he promised Americans he would be “a uniter, not a divider.” He would reform Washington D.C., he said, and govern as a ‘compassionate conservative.’ He would bring back moral values to the White House, and end the partisanship that marked the Clinton era.

Eight years later, Bush has one of the lowest approval ratings in history. According to a recent CBS poll, the 43rd president of the United States will leave office with only 22% support. Even Richard M. Nixon could count on more support in the final days of his presidency.

73% of Americans say they disapprove of the way Bush has handled his job as president over the last eight years.

Bush’s approval ratings stand in stark contrast with those of Bill Clinton and Ronald Reagan, two other presidents who finished two terms; both left office with an approval rating of 68%. George H.W. Bush and even Jimmy Carter performed remarkably better with 54% and 44% respectively.

The lowest approval rating ever measured when leaving office was 32% for Harry Truman.

The comparison with Truman is one Bush and his main supporters like to make; they see Bush in similar terms. Truman may have left office with little support, but history has redeemed him.

Bush is most unpopular among Democrats; only 6% of Democrats approve of him. Independents too think little of their president; only 18% believe he did a good job. This explains why Bush’s approval ratings are so low: he can only count on the support of a majority of Republicans. Everyone else hates his guts.

Having said that, even Republicans do not think too highly of him; when only 57% of your own voters think you did a good job, it’s pretty safe to expect your approval ratings to be extremely low.

Many wonder whether historians will eventually improve Bush’s image. My guess is they will but only to a very small degree indeed. He was objectively seen simply not a very good president; he made too many mistakes, spending went up considerable, the U.S. has the biggest deficit in history, he oversaw a major economic crisis (for which he is not wholly to blame of course), he made major mistakes with regards to the war in Iraq, and so on. But he also accomplished a lot – he oversaw several straight years of economic growth, he brought freedom to two countries ruled by dictators, he helped expand NATO. And, the situation in Iraq has improved tremendously; if Iraq evolves into a stable democracy Bush’s legacy will be far less negative than expected.