Poll: Voters Split On Returning Bush To White House
Bush's Job Approval Rating Down, Personal Rating Up
NBC 6 News Team
POSTED: 2:16 p.m. EDT August 21, 2003
A new Zogby poll shows President George W. Bush's job approval rating continuing to slide, though his personal approval ratings have gotten a lift.
The Aug. 16-19 poll of 1,011 likely voters found that 52 percent of respondents said they approve of Bush's job performance, down 1 percentage point from a July 16 poll, while 48 percent disapprove, down 2 percentage points from July.
That follows a general downward trend in the president's job performance rating, which peaked at 82 percent after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks then slid steadily to 64 percent a year after the attacks, and 58 percent a month after Bush declared the end of major combat operations in Iraq.
Still, 58 percent of respondents said they had a favorable opinion of Bush as a person, up a percentage point from a month ago, while four in 10 respondents said they had an unfavorable view.
The positive view of Bush as a person did not translate into support for the 2004 election, the poll found. Respondents were split on whether they would vote to return Bush to office next year, with 45 percent saying they would support Bush and 48 percent saying it's time for someone new in the White House. Bush maintained a 49 percent electoral support rating throughout the fall of 2002 and much of this year according to the Zogby poll. The percentage of voters who said they would support his run for office next year dropped to 46 percent in July.
When matched against a Democratic opponent, 43 percent of respondents said they would vote for Bush, and an equal number said they would choose a Democrat if the election were held today. In July, 48 percent of respondents said they would choose Bush, and 43 percent said they would favor a Democrat.
The poll has a margin of error of plus-or-minus 3 percentage points. |
