The latest Gallup numbers are out and there’s reason for concern at the White House.
President Bush seems to have slipped into a second-term slump.
Support continues to erode for his signature goal of adding individual investment accounts to Social Security, according to a USA Today/CNN/Gallup Poll taken Friday and Saturday. The coalition that gave him four more years in office is showing signs of strain over the Terri Schiavo case. And Americans are increasingly distressed about gas prices and wary about his central justification for going to war in Iraq.
Andy Kohut, director of the non-partisan Pew Research Center, says Bush seems to have caught “a mild case of second-term-itis,” an affliction that has beset every re-elected president in at least a half-century. “It’s where whatever boost the administration gets with a new second term disappears and the public begins to be a little disgruntled,” he says.
The news isn’t all bad for Bush — his job approval rating has inched up slightly, all the way to 48% approve, 48% disapprove — but most of the data reflects a public that is beginning to suffer from “Bush fatigue.”
* The more Bush pushes Social Security privatization, the worse his support gets. His disapproval rating on handling Social Security is the highest of his presidency, at 57%, while the number who say it’s extremely important for Congress to deal with Social Security this year fell to 37% from 41% in early February. Moreover, for the first time, a majority oppose his private-account plan even if the poll question doesn’t mention it would mean a reduction in guaranteed benefits.
* Bush’s rating on handling the economy dropped to 41%, down 7 points from a month ago.
* On Iraq, a majority of Americans now believe the Bush administration deliberately misled the public about whether Iraq had weapons of mass destruction. In addition, 54% disapprove of Bush’s handling of Iraq (up 6 points since early February) and 53%, an all-time high, said it was not worth going to war in the first place.
The news for Republicans in Congress was about as encouraging.
* By 55%-40%, respondents say Republicans, traditionally the party of limited government, are “trying to use the federal government to interfere with the private lives of most Americans” when it comes to moral values.
* Americans overwhelmingly (76%-20%) disapprove of Congress’ handling of the Schiavo case.
* A plurality (39%) believes the religious right has “too much influence” over Republicans in Congress.
Now, if only those mid-term elections were, say, next month, instead of 19 months away.