In the last column I wrote about a President’s first few days in office, I found that if the chief executive is from the Democratic Party, he or she is more likely to have a seven point advantage in approval ratings around Inauguration Day. But how about what happens the day after…or months later? Which party is more likely to have a president have a “honeymoon,” when the public (and press) give the new leader the benefit of the doubt? Which ones are likely to have a “hangover,” with little or no break before being attacked by the people and press?

To determine this, I look at all presidents from Dwight D. Eisenhower to George W. Bush, looking primarily at Gallup polls. I compare the party of the president to how long it took that president to have an approval rating that dipped below 50 percent.

For Dwight D. Eisenhower, it was a charmed first term. He never got below 50 percent in his first four years. After his second inauguration, it took him until March 27, 1958, to drop below 50 percent. Even then, his approval ratings were always ahead of his disapproval ratings, and his term ended on a high note.

It may shock you that President Kennedy never dropped below 50 percent during his term. People may not have always liked his accent or policies, but respect for the president remained high. Similarly, in finishing up JFK’s term, LBJ was above 50 percent. That changed in President Johnson’s first full term. His approval ratings dipped below 50 percent in a May 5, 1966 poll. They were rarely above 50 percent the rest of his term in office.

Surprisingly, Nixon had a longer honeymoon that his predecessor, sticking it out above 50 percent until a Gallup poll on February 19, 1971. His second term honeymoon was much shorter, thanks to Watergate. His 67 percent rating around Inauguration Day had plummeted 20 points by April 27, 1973.

Similarly, it didn’t take long for President Ford to get on people’s bad side. From his high ratings in August of 1974 until November 8 of that same year, his numbers continued to slide. President Jimmy Cater did little better. Only a year after being inaugurated, Carter slipped under 50 percent, though he continued to wildly vacillate between the 20s and 50s.

Reagan surprised a lot of people. Starting only at 51 percent, he climbed to the 60 percent range, but by November 13, 1981, he was below 50 percent. He didn’t recover from bad poll numbers until November of 1983. After his second inauguration, it took much longer for him to drop below the 50 percent line, in the wake of the Iran-Contra Scandal (December 4, 1986).

George Herbert Walker Bush followed a path similar to Reagan’s first term, but stayed high considerably longer. Only until the beginning of his last year in office did his numbers tank.Bill Clinton had a short honeymoon in his first term (it only lasted until May of 1993) but never fell below 50 percent in his second term.

Contrary to some conservative claims, George W. Bush had a relatively long honeymoon, which lasted three full years (until January 29, 2004). But his second term was a disaster in public surveys. Bush sported the shortest honeymoon of any of any recent president’s terms, being over 50 percent only on his Inauguration Day poll.

Just as Democrats have higher Inauguration Day polls, they also have longer honeymoons with the American people. But here’s a warning for Barack Obama. Democrat honeymoons only last 1.5 months longer than what Republicans get, on average, before their poll numbers sink below 50 percent. That’s a little less than two years before the American people’s enthusiasm for their new president tends to wane, regardless of their Inauguration Day numbers.