LOS ANGELES — George W. Bush is proving that absence, indeed, makes the heart grow fonder.
According to a Gallup poll released Monday, the most recent ex-president has an approval rating of 47 percent, about double his rating during his final year in office.
In his first outing in the poll’s ranking of former presidents, Bush is still near the bottom, handily defeating perennial basement-dweller Richard Nixon. But when compared with approval polls while he was in office, he’s rising, statistically tied with Lyndon Johnson and closing in on Jimmy Carter.
Bush still is in negative territory. About 51 percent said they disapproved of him as president, placing him with Nixon as the only former leaders to be more disliked than liked.
The poll of 1,037 adults was conducted by telephone between Nov. 19 and 21. It has a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points.
