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CJ Cregg
Commodore
Joined: 05 Oct 2002
Posts: 1254
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 Fri Jan 07, 2005 2:59 pm Poll: Bush's approval rating at 49 percent |
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| Quote: | WASHINGTON - President Bush prepares to start his second term with an ambitious list of tasks but also a public evenly split about his job performance, an Associated Press poll found.
Bush�s approval rating is at 49 percent in the AP poll, with 49 percent disapproving. His job approval is in the high 40s in several other recent polls � as low as any job approval rating for a re-elected president at the start of the second term in more than 50 years.
Presidents Reagan and Clinton had job approval ratings of around 60 percent just before their inauguration for a second term, according to Gallup polls.
President Nixon�s approval was in the 60s right after his 1972 re-election, slid to about 50 percent right before his inauguration and then moved back over 60 percent. President Eisenhower�s job approval was in the low 70s just before his second inauguration in 1957.
Bush and Congress are about to tackle ambitious projects � creating private accounts for those in the Social Security system, overhauling the federal tax code and limiting lawsuit damages. Those tasks will be all the more difficult with the tepid poll ratings for both Bush and Congress.
About four in 10, 41 percent, approve of the job Congress is doing, while 53 percent disapprove, according to the poll conducted for the AP by Ipsos Public Affairs.
The nation�s sharply partisan split is responsible for Bush�s job ratings.
Republicans overwhelmingly approve of Bush�s job performance and Democrats overwhelmingly disapprove � a split found to a lesser extent in the congressional numbers.
Democrats shift since 9/11
Only one in six Democrats say they approve of Bush�s job performance, the poll found. In January 2002, six in 10 Democrats approved of the job done by Bush, contributing to an overall job approval rating near 80 percent four months after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. In January of last year, about one-quarter of Democrats approved of the job done by Bush.
Rick Dickinson, a cabinet maker from Charlottesville, Va., and a Democrat, said he liked what he saw from Bush after the terrorist attacks, but those feelings have faded.
�I thought he did generally well after 9/11. He was decisive and he had some great momentum,� Dickinson said. �But now I basically disapprove of him. The war troubles me. He picks a plan � regardless of the information � and he goes with it.�
Bush has intense support from Republicans, which has kept him on an even keel or above for months. More than nine in 10 Republicans said they approve of Bush�s job performance.
�I very strongly support what he�s been doing,� said Cheryl McGauvran, a teacher in a Christian school who says she lives in the desert southeast of Los Angeles. �If we had somebody in office who waffled we would be in trouble. It�s almost better to be wrong and then correct it, than to vacillate and be stomped.�
Economy, Iraq, terrorism
People were evenly divided on Bush�s handling of the economy. They take a dim view of his handling of Iraq, with 44 percent approving and 54 percent disapproving, according to the poll of 1,001 adults. It was taken Jan. 3-5 and has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.
Even on Bush�s strongest area, handling foreign policy and the war on terrorism, people were evenly split � with 50 percent approving and 48 percent disapproving.
For much of the last year, the public has been fairly evenly divided on Bush�s job approval. He was still able to win about 60 million votes � a record number but just 51 percent of votes cast � at a time most people thought the country was headed down the wrong track.
Bush�s willingness to pursue policies even if unpopular is appealing to some voters.
Gene Kuterboch, a state worker who lives in Stowe, Pa., says he�s been a Democrat all his life, but he voted for Bush this time because Democrat John Kerry �seemed to be following the polls.�
�I voted for President Bush because I think he took a stand after what went on with the terrorist attacks,� Kuterboch said. �We need a leader.� |
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IntrepidIsMe
Pimp Handed
Joined: 14 Jun 2002
Posts: 13057
Location: New York
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| Fri Jan 07, 2005 5:38 pm |
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The 49% that isn't happy is probably the Dems who lost recently, 
-------signature-------
"Nelly, I am Heathcliff! He's always, always in my mind: not as a pleasure, any more than I am always a pleasure to myself, but as my own being."
-Wuthering Heights
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Defiant
Fleet Admiral
Joined: 04 Jul 2001
Posts: 15946
Location: Oregon City, OR
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| Fri Jan 07, 2005 5:39 pm |
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Almost definetly.
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Jadzia Lenara Dax
Garbage Queen
Joined: 17 Oct 2001
Posts: 5761
Location: Sunnydale, California
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| Mon Jan 10, 2005 1:16 am |
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How are approval ratings figured out, anyhow?
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"I can't stand someone who can outdepress me." -Shirley Manson, Garbage
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CJ Cregg
Commodore
Joined: 05 Oct 2002
Posts: 1254
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| Tue Jan 11, 2005 1:30 pm |
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| Quote: | Poll: Bush's approval rating climbs
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- President Bush got high marks for his handling of the tsunami disaster, and his job approval rating went up in a CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll released Monday, but most of those surveyed had doubts about his call to overhaul Social Security.
Bush's job approval rating went up to 52 percent in the poll, which was conducted Friday through Sunday in phone calls to 1,008 adult Americans. That's an improvement of 3 percentage points from the last CNN poll, taken in mid-December.
Another 44 percent said they disapproved of his job performance, down 2 percentage points from the December 17-19 survey. The latest poll had a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.
Bush got his highest marks in a year on his handling of the economy, with 50 percent of those polled saying they approved of his performance.
He also got high marks for his handling of the Indian Ocean tsunami disaster, with 75 percent of respondents saying they approved of the way he handling it. (Full story)
But only 42 percent of those surveyed said they approved of his handling of the war in Iraq, and 56 percent disapproved. (Full story)
And 52 percent said they disapproved of his handling of Social Security -- an issue Bush has called on Congress to tackle in his second term. (Full story)
Only 41 percent said they approved of Bush's desire to revamp Social Security, on which he has promised to spend the "political capital" he earned from his November election victory.
Bush has endorsed the concept of allowing younger workers to invest a portion of their Social Security taxes in private accounts in exchange for receiving less in guaranteed Social Security benefits.
He has yet to offer details of his proposal, but critics have argued that the transition to such a program could cost $1 trillion to $2 trillion.
Monday's poll suggests the president will have a hard sell for any partial privatization effort.
More than half of those polled -- 55 percent -- said they considered it a bad idea, and 45 percent said they considered it a good idea.
Monday's poll found that 18 percent of those responded agree with the president's characterization of Social Security as a system in crisis, with another 53 percent arguing that it faces major problems.
Only 24 percent described the system's problems as minor, while 3 percent said Social Security faces no problems.
By comparison, only 13 percent of those polled in September 2002 said they considered Social Security to be facing a crisis, and 15 percent of those polled in December 1998 held that opinion.
In a separate question, nearly half of those polled -- 49 percent -- said they believe the federal government should make major changes to Social Security within the next year or two.
Another 39 percent backed changes within the next 10 years, and 9 percent said change was not necessary.
When asked about the disaster in the Indian Ocean that has killed more than 140,000 people, three-quarters of those polled said they approved of Bush's reaction to the disaster, and one-fifth disapproved.
The Bush administration's initial response to the tsunamis was criticized as insufficient and tentative, but nearly all Americans surveyed said they believed the United States was contributing its fair share or more to the relief effort.
Only 8 percent said they believed the United States should contribute more to the relief effort.
Fully half of those polled said Arab countries were pitching in less than their fair share, compared to 21 percent who thought European countries should contribute more and 24 percent who said the United Nations should do more.
Asked whether they believed the United States had made a mistake by sending troops to Iraq, 50 percent of those surveyed said yes and 48 percent said no.
Only 40 percent of those surveyed said they believed the war is going well for American forces.
Just 28 percent said they considered it very likely or somewhat likely that peace and security would be established within Iraq in the next year. |
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