Bush's Approval Rating Falls, Kerry Leads California, Poll Says
Feb. 25 (Bloomberg) -- President George W. Bush's approval ratings in California, the most-populous state, dropped to the lowest since taking office as many state voters give their backing to Senator John Kerry for November's election, a poll shows.
Fifty-one percent of registered voters say they disapproved of Bush's performance, 8 percentage points more than those who approved, according to a Field Research Corp. poll. In a poll last month, 52 percent approved and 42 percent disapproved.
California, where former Vice President Al Gore outpolled Bush 53 percent to 42 percent in 2000, next Tuesday will choose a Democrat in primary elections to oppose Bush in November. Kerry is the favored candidate with 60 percent of the likely votes, a 41 percentage-point lead over Senator John Edwards, according to the survey.
California has 55 of the 270 electoral voters needed to decide the presidency.
The Field poll shows that Kerry and Edwards would each defeat Bush should either oppose him in the November race. Kerry is leading Bush 53 percent to 41 percent among registered voters, compared with a 51 percent to 42 percent lead for Edwards.
The survey questioned 958 registered voters by telephone, 497 of whom said they are likely to vote Tuesday.
The poll, conducted Feb. 18-22, has a margin of error of 3.3 percentage points for the registered voters and 4.5 percent for |
