Bush-Congress Approval Numbers Hemorrhaging

[Nbadan]

Oh my, I wonder why Rush Limbaugh isn't talking about this?

Approval Ratings for President and Congressional Leaders Continue to Drop, According to Latest Harris Poll


The War Jumps to the Top of the List as the Most Important Issue for the
Government to Address

ROCHESTER, N.Y., Aug. 24 /PRNewswire/ -- President Bush's job approval
ratings are at their lowest point of his presidency as only 40 percent of U.S.
adults have a favorable opinion of his job performance, while 58 percent have
a negative opinion. This is a decline from just two months ago in June when
the president's ratings were 45 percent positive and 55 percent negative.

Much of this decline can be tied to the public's opinion on important issues. The war has climbed to the top of the most important issues list and the economy is now the second most important issue.

These are some of the results of a new Harris Poll of 1,217 U.S. adults
surveyed by telephone by Harris Interactive(R) between August 9 and 16, 2005.

Ratings of Other Cabinet Members

The Harris Poll(R) also examined the ratings of others in the Bush
administration and with one exception; their ratings have also dropped in the
past two months. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is the only cabinet
member who has seen a rise in her ratings. She is now at 57 percent positive
and 37 percent negative, a rise from June when she was at 52 percent positive and 41 percent negative. Her ratings clearly top those of the political
figures measured.

Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld has a 40 percent positive, 58 percent
negative rating while Vice President Cheney has a 35 percent positive, 60
percent negative rating.

.....


Right Direction or Wrong Track

As the at udes toward the president, his cabinet and Congress continue
to decline, Americans are also less satisfied with the way things are going in
the country now as compared to in June. A majority (59%) of adults say things in the country have gotten pretty seriously off on the wrong track and 37 percent believe things are moving in the right direction. In June, those
numbers were 38 percent who said things were moving in the right direction and 55 percent who said things had headed off on the wrong track.

The War is the Most Important Issue

The main reason why these percentages may be as low as they are probably
has to do with the most important issues Americans want to see addressed. The war has taken a large jump as 41 percent say that it is the most important issue for the government to address, up from 24 percent in June.

Following the war, the economy remains near the top of the list as 19 percent believe it is the most important issue. We also see that the rising gas prices has moved to the top five issues of importance as 10 percent of adults think it is the most important issue for the government to address.

The fact that neither the war nor the economy may be perceived as going
well and people are constantly being reminded of the gas prices every time
they fill their tanks has perhaps left the public looking for someone to
blame. Right now, it looks like they may be placing that blame on the
president, members of his administration and Congress.

PR Newswire

Only two Presidents have had lower approval numbers: Nixon and LBJ, and we all know what happened to both of them. One was impeached and the other was unre-electable.

[Spurminator]

the other was unre-electable.

Glad to see you've conceded on that...

I think this is just more evidence that a lot on the Right are less enthusiastically pro-Bush as they are anti-Liberal. They are less envigorated by Bush's leadership than by the rhetoric (or what they sometimes perceive as rhetoric) on the Left.

As long as something doesn't happen to somehow make Democrats or liberals The Enemy, a lot of those people probably wouldn't vote.

[ChumpDumper]

I guarantee Bush will not be re-elected in 2008.

[Spurminator]

Here's what's strange about the Harris Poll (Not just in this cir stance, but in all of their approval rating polls). "Negative" and "Positive" are not actual options for response in the survey.

The respondent options are "Excellent," "Very good," "Only Fair," "Poor," and "Not Sure."

The "Positive" rating is created by combiming all "Excellent" and "Very Good" responses, and the "Negative" rating is created by combining "Poor" and "Only Fair" responses. This is questionable, since someone who believes that the President is doing a "Fair" job may not necessarily have a negative view of him.

Now this isn't an excuse for Bush since all Presidents' poll results have been based on this criteria, but it still seems like a flawed analysis.

[Cant_Be_Faded]

nbadan how dare you add that propaganda to the beginning of the article, how dare you
you're being anti american!

destino is being hardcore american though

so does this imply that more americans are agreeing with Bush's foreign policy or disagreeing?