Which president had the highest Gallup approval average and what policies drove it?

1. Peak approval: patriotism and crisis produced a 90% high for George W. Bush

Gallup’s long-running series records George W. Bush’s immediate post‑9/11 approval spike — a 90% approval rating — which is the single highest point Gallup has tracked for any president ^[1]. Gallup’s Presidential Job Approval Center explains its methodology and that its series is the go‑to historical measure used to compare presidents across the modern polling era ^{[2] [3]}.

2. What drove that peak: national security, the “rally ’round the flag” effect

Contemporaneous analysts and retrospective polling summaries attribute Bush’s 90% reading to the national shock of the Sept. 11 attacks and a strong “rally ’round the flag” response to perceived leadership on national security — the classic crisis-driven surge in presidential approval ^[1]. The Gallup narrative and historical data make clear the spike was tied to a single extraordinary event rather than long-term consensus about policy ^[2].

3. How Gallup measures and why the record matters for comparisons

Gallup is the consistent longitudinal source for these comparisons because it has asked the same approval question across administrations; analysts and data repositories point to Gallup’s continuity as the reason its highs and lows are treated as the authoritative benchmark ^{[3] [2]}. That continuity matters: single-day or short-run spikes (like Bush’s 90%) are captured in Gallup’s series and are comparable across presidencies because of the stable question wording and methodology ^[2].

4. Limitations: peaks are snapshots, not endorsements of broad policy success

A 90% peak is a momentary snapshot, not a measure of long-term approval averages or policy endurance. Gallup’s methodology and presentation emphasize these are periodic or daily polls that reflect public mood; the 90% reading followed a national trauma, a known driver of temporary surges ^{[2] [1]}. Available sources do not claim that the 90% reflected sustained, multi‑year mandate or unanimous support for any particular domestic policy beyond national security posture ^[1].

5. Alternative readings: averages versus single-day highs

Other officials and media often compare both peaks and longer-run averages. The provided sources show Gallup’s single highest reading is Bush’s 90% ^[1], while Gallup’s broader pages and other aggregators (e.g., The American Presidency Project) emphasize multi‑poll averages for each term to show how leaders fared over time ^[3]. For a full picture of presidential popularity, historians and poll analysts look at average approval across a presidency rather than a crisis-driven high point ^[3].

6. Why context and source choice matter

Different pollsters and aggregators use different sampling rules and windows; Ballotpedia and other indexes remind readers that methodological variation can shift short-term numbers ^[4]. The sources provided repeatedly elevate Gallup as the consistent historical standard ^{[3] [2]}, and the claim that Bush hit 90% comes directly from that Gallup-centered record ^[1].

7. What the sources do not cover

Available sources do not provide a breakdown, within these excerpts, tying specific domestic policy actions to the 90% approval spike beyond the broad national‑security and rally‑around‑the‑flag context ^{[1] [2]}. Detailed polling that separates approval drivers (e.g., specific policy questions) for that precise moment are not included in the provided set ^{[1] [2]}.

Final takeaway: Gallup’s series identifies George W. Bush’s post‑9/11 90% approval as the highest single Gallup reading on record; that peak was driven by the national‑security crisis and the rally‑round‑the‑flag effect rather than long‑term policy consensus ^{[1] [2]}.