Last week I promised not to report on [tag]Bush[/tag] polls unless they showed him reaching new lows. As it turns out, there are two new national [tag]poll[/tag]s that do just that. First up is USA Today/[tag]Gallup[/tag].
Six months before [tag]Republicans[/tag] try to hold on to control of [tag]Congress[/tag] in the fall elections, a new poll shows President Bush has slid to the lowest approval rating of his presidency, and a majority of voters say they’ll vote for Democrats in November.
A USA Today/Gallup Poll taken Friday through Sunday found Bush’s [tag]approval rating[/tag] at 34%, two points under his previous low. He also received the lowest ratings of his presidency on his handling of the economy, energy and foreign affairs. He tied his previous low on Iraq: 32%.
The poll showed [tag]Democrats[/tag] leading 54%-39% among registered voters who were asked which party they would prefer in a congressional race.
On that last point, USA Today noted that, in the last 56 years, there “have been six times when presidents had Gallup approval ratings below 50% in the spring as their party sought to keep control of Congress. The president’s party lost House seats in all six years, ranging from five in 1968 to 54 in 1994.” Dems need 15 seats this year.
CBS News found similar results.
With gas prices sky-high and no end of the Iraq war in sight, President George W. Bush’s approval rating hits an all-time low in a new CBS News poll.
Only 33 percent approve of his job performance, Mr. Bush’s lowest approval rating yet in CBS News polls. A majority — 58 percent of those polled — say they disapprove of the president. Mr. Bush appears to be losing support from his own party. His approval rating among Republicans has dropped to 68 percent. Mr. Bush’s ratings are even lower on the issues dominating news coverage: near-record gas prices and the war in Iraq.
I guess folks aren’t terribly impressed with the staff shake-up.
The numbers I found most interesting, however, were the numbers showing stronger support for Democrats, not just stronger disapproval for Republicans.
As I noted a couple of weeks ago, for the better part of the last year or so, the polls showed voters with a pox-on-both-your-houses attitude. The surveys would show the public souring on the administration and Republicans in Congress, but simultaneously show that they weren’t all that crazy about Dems either.
We’re clearly past this point now. Two weeks ago, an LA Times/Bloomberg poll asked respondents about their impressions of the parties in general. For Republicans, the public said it had a negative impression, 50% to 37%. For Dems, it was a positive impression, 41% to 38%.
The new USAT/Gallup poll shows the same thing. Asked about the parties, 58% of Americans say they have an “unfavorable” opinion of the Republican Party, against 36% who have a “favorable” view. Dems, however, fare much better, with a 48% favorability rating, versus a 45% negative rating.
We’re looking at a landscape in which Republicans are not only falling, but Dems are finally rising. Consider this your morale boost for the day.