Bush's 51% election majority is about to turn against him, as it becomes his disapproval rating....don't blame me, it's a Gallup poll.
Poll: Bush approval ratings hit lowest point of tenure
WASHINGTON (USATODAY.com) — President Bush's job approval ratings have hit the lowest point of his tenure and the number of Americans with an unfavorable opinion of him has reached 50% for the first time, according to a Gallup poll released Friday.
Forty-four percent of Americans approve of the way Bush is handling his job, according to the poll, while 51% disapprove. That is a four-point drop from Bush's approval rating of July 22-24 and 1% below his previous low of 45% in a poll taken June 24-26. Bush's approval ratings have now been at 50% or lower since mid-March.
The poll also puts Bush's unfavorable rating among Americans at the highest level of his presidency — 50%. Forty-eight percent of Americans had a favorable opinion of the president, marking the first time in Bush's tenure that his unfavorable rating is higher than his favorable rating. In contrast, a Gallup poll in late November of 2001, less than three months after the Sept. 11 terror attacks, put Bush's favorable rating at 87% and his unfavorable rating at 11%.
Bush's previous low favorable rating came twice in October 2004, when 51% of Americans had a favorable opinion of the president and 46% had an unfavorable opinion.
The poll also indicated the public had a pessimistic outlook about the general direction of the country and the economy. Forty percent of Americans said they were satisfied with the way things are going in the United States, and 58% said they were dissatisfied. Those numbers are close to the lowest measurements of Bush's presidency in April, when 38% of Americans said they were satisfied with the country's direction and 58% said they were dissatisfied.
On the economy, 32% of Americans said conditions were in excellent or good shape, with 67% saying they were in fair or poor shape. Fifty-three percent of Americans said the economy was getting worse, while 35% said it was getting better and 9% said it was about the same.
The poll was based on telephone interviews with 1,010 adults. It has a margin of error of plus or minus 3 to 5 percentage points, depending on the question. |
