Bush’s feeble poll position

April 19, 2006

The bad news is, Josh Bolten appears to be rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic. The good news is they [tag]Bush[/tag] gang, at this point, has nowhere to go but up.

President Bush’s job-approval rating slipped for the third consecutive month and remains near the lowest mark of his presidency, according to a new Harris Interactive [tag]poll[/tag].

Thirty-five percent of 1,008 U.S. adults surveyed in the telephone poll think Mr. Bush is doing an “excellent or pretty good” job as president, down from 36% in March and significantly lower than 43% in January. This compares with 63% of Americans who said Mr. Bush is doing an “only fair or poor” job, down from 64% in March.

Furthermore, pessimism about the direction of U.S. policies appears to be growing. Only 27% of Americans believe “things in this country are going in the right direction,” a drop from 31% in March, according to the poll.

It’s not the only new poll showing the same results. A new Gallup poll shows Bush stuck with extremely low [tag]support[/tag].

A new Gallup Poll, conducted April 10-13, 2006 finds little change in President George W. Bush’s overall job [tag]approval rating[/tag]s, with 36% of Americans saying they approve and 59% saying they disapprove. The current 36% approval ties for the lowest of Bush’s entire administration. Overall, Bush’s job approval ratings have been extremely steady since February, ranging between 36% and 38% across the five most recent polls.

A majority disapproves of Bush’s job performance in every category, including his handling of the war on [tag]terrorism[/tag]. On [tag]Iraq[/tag], support has dropped to 32% approve, 65% disapprove.

And just for good measure, I thought I’d add that the latest SurveyUSA 50-state poll is out — and there’s nothing encouraging for Bush there either. He enjoys majority support in just four states (Utah, Wyoming, Idaho, and Nebraska), and has fallen to 40% or lower in 15 states that backed him in the 2004 election (including a stunning 34% in Ohio).

By now, news like this is dog-bites-man, but as readers know, I like to offer a morale boost from time to time.

For the longest time, I wondered why libs were the only ones who saw Bush for what he really is. The polls show WE’RE the majority now and Americans have no use for a miserable failure.

  • “He enjoys majority support in just four states (Utah, Wyoming, Idaho, and Nebraska)”

    Sad, I’m going to have to disavow my birth state.

    It’s fun watching Bush’s slow decline towards November. I bet the congressional Republicanites are chewing their livers over this.

    But then, if they really were, they’d give him immigration reform with a guest worker program. So maybe the congressional Republicanites enjoy watching Bush twist in the wind.

  • “extremely low support” would be an approval rating of 25% or lower.

    35% is low, but not “extremely low support”.

    In the circumstances, and given his record, 35% approval is actually kind of scary. Does our great “Decider” have to foam at the mouth? Or, are they waiting for $4/g gas? Unfortunately, I think Bush is determined to find out just what it will take to turn the whole country against him.

    So, it would be best to hold some vocabulary, like “extremely low support”, in reserve, for the good times ahead.

  • I agree, Bruce Wilder. Even support this low could be turned around in a minute by action of the Administration, direct or indirect. I’m glad to see these polls, but given the American public’s intelligence level and distinterest in anything political (as opposed to sex and religion and scandal), I wouldn’t count on a major turn-around this November. Doesn’t mean I can’t hold out hope – after all, I’m a Seattle Mariners fan.

  • Just can’t crack the crackpot wall of 35%. Don’t
    know what it would take.

    Idaho remains strongly in the Bush camp, and
    his rating actually went up over last time. It’s
    hard to figure out – in our (only) major newspaper,
    they publish a lot of letters to the editor, and they
    run heavily against Bush, so it’s impossible to
    determine what this core support group is
    thinking – if at all. The support letters, and there
    are very few of them, tend to be puerile, or
    way out crazy – the “nuke ’em” crowd.

    I only mention this because I’ve lived in Idaho
    since 1998, and you’d think I’d have a good
    grasp of how the core Bush supporters think.
    But I don’t. I think it’s more that they’ve always
    been Republicans and it’s just something that
    they are, rather than that they are enthusiastic about
    Bush in particular.

  • Although I’m glad to see the approval numbers so low, I fear it has less to do with Bush himself (the war) but general economic pressures the average American is feeling (rising gas, medical costs, immigration (outsourcing), realization that housing is going to collapse, and an attack on pensions, social security, medicare). Basically, all of the latter are hard issues to solve and the Dems aren’t likely to do much better of a job. This nation is on a downward slide and it seems the politicians aren’t willing to make the hard choices all middle class Americans are finding themselves forced to make on a daily basis (do I put the mortgage or the gas bill on the credit card? Or do we stop eating out?). Until government starts showing some seriousness about these basic economic issues nobody’s approval ratings will be high.

  • Think of it as a grade.

    Bush is proud of telling college students that he was a “C” student and became President.

    Now he will also be able to tell college students that he is a “C” President. ( I know, I am being kind – maybe he should say “F”
    President.)

  • “Just can’t crack the crackpot wall of 35%. Don’t know what it would take.” – hark

    Actually passing and signing Immigration Reform. It is the only thing that would split his remaining base.

    Any libertarian who finds warrantless domestic spying is already gone,

    Any fiscal conservative who finds the growing deficits is already gone,

    Any one who cares about maintaining a sound military is already gone.

    Not much else left.

  • “It’s fun watching Bush’s slow decline towards November.”–Lance.

    It would be even more fun watching his rapid decline into single digits. Bear in mind, though, that some of his lack of popularity in the statistics now is from former supporters pissed off about the Dubai arab port scandel. They think Bush isn’t right wing enough and so are turning against him. Not exactly future Dem voters. Sigh…

  • I, for one, still cannot believe the poll numbers favoring Bush are still so high. Maybe it’s scandal fatigue, but I can’t believe people still believe he’s doing a good job at anything, other than destroying this nation. The last five years may very well mark the decline of this nation’s power. We’re looking an awful lot like the British Empire.

  • Utah, Wyoming, Idaho, and Nebraska—future home of the GOP majority-in-exile shadow government. It’ll be the future home of FOX News, too. All partnering together to bring you the “New and Improved Future Amerikanische Reich.”

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