On the October 29 edition of CNN's On the Story, CNN senior political correspondent Candy Crowley falsely claimed that President Ronald Reagan's job approval ratings as he left office were higher than those of President Bill Clinton as he left office.

Responding to an audience member who asked whether it was possible for President Bush “to salvage his plummeting approval rating,” Crowley stated:

CROWLEY: Well, Ronald Reagan did it in Iran-Contra. His ratings dipped to 37 percent. He brought in a new team, fresh air, big, bold ideas, trying to capture the attention of people. Bill Clinton did it, post-Monica [Lewinsky]. He didn't go quite as high in the polls when he left office.

In fact, polls show that Clinton's job approval rating as he left office was as high or higher than Reagan's when he left office. Clinton's final Gallup job approval rating was 66 percent, compared with 63 percent (subscription required) for Reagan. A January 17, 2004, ABC News online article cited an ABC News/Washington Post poll showing a 65 percent job approval rating for Clinton at the end of his presidency, compared with a 64 percent rating* for Reagan at the end of his. CBS News polls showed a 68 percent approval rating for both Clinton and Reagan at the end of their respective presidencies.

Moreover, Crowley's statement falsely suggested that Clinton's approval ratings during and after the Lewinsky matter dipped as low as Reagan's did during Iran-Contra. According to a Gallup analysis of polling data from the Reagan presidency, "[Reagan's] ratings plummeted from 63% in late October [1986, just before the Iran-Contra story broke] to 47% in early December [1986], and stayed relatively low throughout 1987." But Clinton's approval ratings during the Lewinsky matter remained comparatively high. The January 6-7, 1998, Gallup poll, the last taken before the January 17, 1998, onset of the Lewinsky matter, showed 59 percent approval for Clinton. From the time that the Lewinsky story broke through the Senate's February 1999 acquittal of Clinton on perjury and obstruction of justice charges, Clinton's Gallup approval rating (subscription required) never dipped below 58 percent (a relative low he reached in a January 23-24, 1998, poll), although several months after Clinton's acquittal, his Gallup approval rating fell to 53 percent (May 23-24, 1999). Clinton's Gallup approval ratings actually hit the high for his presidency during the Lewinsky matter, reaching 73 percent at the time of his December 19, 1998, impeachment by the House of Representatives (in a poll taken December 19-20, 1998) and reaching another relative peak of 70 percent in a February 9, 1999, poll, taken during Clinton's trial in the Senate.

Although it is not clear which poll Crowley was citing when she claimed Reagan's “ratings dipped to 37 percent” or what relation this “dip” had to Iran-Contra, according to Gallup, Reagan registered his lowest-ever approval rating in January 1983 at 35 percent. The Iran-Contra affair was not reported publicly until November 1986.

From the October 29 edition of CNN's On the Story:

ALI VELSHI (anchor): We're going to bring another voice into our circle here. We have a question from the audience. Go ahead, sir.

AUDIENCE MEMBER: Hi, my name is Andrew. I'm from Washington, D.C. My question is, is it possible for George Bush to salvage his plummeting approval rating without another pre-emptive strike? If so, how?

CROWLEY: Well, Ronald Reagan did it in Iran-Contra. His ratings dipped to 37 percent. He brought in a new team, fresh air, big, bold ideas, trying to capture the attention of people. Bill Clinton did it, post-Monica. He didn't go quite as high in the polls when he left office. But second-term presidents tend to get in trouble. And -- first of all, they have a record, and so people are beating them up about it. But beyond that, things start to come out. Can he recover? Absolutely. But he needs to -- I think that the advice that he's getting is on the mark. Bring in some fresh people, you know, get yourself back on track. And I think it's actually as Suzanne [Malveaux, CNN White House correspondent] said to you. Look, what they're trying to do is say, this is horrible, it's a judicial proceeding that's going on now with Scooter Libby, on with the business of the country, because that's what the people want.

* It is unclear whether the 64 percent approval rating for Reagan in the poll cited in the ABC News online article comes from an ABC News/Washington Post poll, as the article's explanation of polling methodology addresses only polling from the end of Clinton's second term.