Released: July 18, 2003
Bush Job Performance Slips to 53% Positive, 46% Negative;
More Voters (47%) Say It's Time for Someone New Than Say He Deserves Re-election; Two-in-Three Say it Makes No Difference if WMDs Are Never Found, According to Newest Zogby America Poll
President George W. Bush's job performance rating has slipped to 53% positive, his lowest since the terrorist attacks in 2001, according to a poll of 1,004 likely U.S. voters by Zogby International. His negative rating reached 46%, just under his pre-9/11 unfavorable of 49%:
Bush Job Performance
Positive % Negative %
July 16-17, 2003 Current 53 46
June 10, 2003 Post Iraqi War 58 41
March 16, 2003 Pre Iraqi War 54 45
October 25, 2002 64 36
September 25, 2002 64 36
September 23, 2001 Post 9/11 82 17
August 27, 2001 Pre 9/11 50 49
April 26, 2001 100 Days in Office 52 44
January 16, 2001 Pre Inauguration 42 36
Voters rate only President Bush's performance in the war on terrorism positively, 59% - 40%. Opinion is split on foreign policy, 49% positive compared to 50% negative. His performance on health care is rated 36% positive, 61% negative; the environment, 31% positive, 65% negative; taxes, 45% positive, 54% negative; and jobs and the economy, 33% positive, 66% negative.
<font color=red>For the first time, more likely voters (47%) say it's time for someone new in the White House, compared to 46% who said the President deserves to be re-elected. <font color=black>
Date Re-Elect % Someone New %
July 16-17, 2003 46 47
June 10, 2003 49 38
January 27, 2003 49 41
October 25, 2002 49 35
September 25, 2002 49 38
While nearly six in ten (57%) respondents say they have a favorable opinion of the President as a person, 42% now say their opinion is unfavorable.
Date % Favorable % Unfavorable
July 16-17, 2003 57 42
January 27, 2003 66 33
July 22, 2002 72 25
April 5, 2002 82 17
July 30, 2001 57 36
February 15, 2001 64 14
A plurality (48%) of likely voters say they would choose President Bush over a Democratic candidate (43%) if the election were held today, compared to June polling by Zogby International where 44% would choose Bush and 37% would favor any Democrat.
<font color=red>A majority (50%) of respondents say the United States is headed in the right direction, while 44% say it's the wrong direction. <font color=black>
Date Right
Direction % Wrong
Direction %
July 16-17, 2003 50 44
January 7, 2003 55 37
July 22, 2002 50 36
January 23, 2002 71 16
July 2001 48 39
January 2001 60 32
July 2000 63 30
June 1999 54 36
July 1998 62 27
Support for the War
Support for war in Iraq has eroded. When asked if the country had to do it over again, nearly six in ten (59%) said they would support a war against Iraq, while 40% say they would oppose it. In April 2003 polling by Zogby International, 75% supported the war then underway, while 22% opposed.
Will WMDs be found in Iraq?
Voters are nearly equally split on whether or not the US will find weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, with 47% saying they will not be found, and 45% believing they will. Two in three (67%) say it makes no difference if they are ever found, while 23% say they would be less supportive of the administration, and 9% say they would be more supportive if they aren't found.
When asked if they would be more or less likely to vote for President Bush in the next presidential election if weapons of mass destruction are never found, an overwhelming majority (75%) of respondents said it would make no difference. One in five (20%) said they would be less likely to vote for him, and 5% said they would be more likely to support him.
Sentiment is split on the subject of public Congressional hearings about the reasons used to justify a war in Iraq. Just over half (52%) said public hearings should not be held, while 45% favor them. More people fault the CIA and other US intelligence (36%) than the White House (31%) as responsible for the confusion about the number and types of weapons of mass destruction that Iraq supposedly possessed.
Pollster John Zogby: "What has been propping up the President in the past few months is his personal favorability rating. To me, what is most ominous is this alone has slipped 9 points in the past month. If he cannot count on a large majority of Americans to like him personally, this could spell doom for his re-election hopes because he has little support for his overall performance and how he is rated on the issues."
The Zogby America poll of 1,000 likely voters was conducted from Zogby International headquarters in Utica on July 16-17, 2003. The poll has a margin of error of +/- 3.2%. |
