Unpopular former President Jimmy Carter said he plans to vote for unpopular presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. “It’s been an exciting and unprecedented kind of campaign this year, and unfortunately, the way it’s turned out, both choices in the major parties are quite unpopular,” Carter said on Monday, while visiting a Habitat for Humanity construction site in Memphis, Tenn.
Carter didn’t exactly endorse Hillary for president, but did say he would vote for her, in part, because she was a Democrat. “I don’t have any doubt that one of the candidates is better qualified than the other,” Carter said. “Everybody knows I’m Democratic, and I’ll be voting Democratic.”
Not exactly a ringing affirmation of support from the former one-term president, who knows a thing or two about being unpopular. Carter left office with an average approval rating of just 45.5 percent—even lower than George W. Bush, whose average approval rating as president was 49.4 percent.
Carter was annihilated in his 1980 reelection bid against Republican nominee Ronald Reagan. Carter won just six states and the District of Columbia, and garnered just 41 percent of the popular vote and 49 electoral votes, compared to Reagan’s 489.
According to Real Clear Politics, Hillary Clinton has an average favorability rating of just 43 percent, while 53.5 percent of Americans view her unfavorably.
