Poor GEORGE BUSH: Lowest Approval Rating Since NIXON

[PalJoey]

Posted: 1/22/07 at 10:25am

ABC News

State of the Union: Unhappy With Bush

Bush's 33 Percent Approval Rating Lowest Since Nixon for President Entering State of the Union Speech

ANALYSIS
By GARY LANGER

Jan. 22, 2007 — President Bush faces the nation this week more unpopular than any president on the eve of a State of the Union address since Richard Nixon in 1974.

Nixon was beleaguered by the Watergate scandal; for Bush, three decades later, it's the war in Iraq. With his unpopular troop surge on the table, his job rating matches the worst of his presidency: Thirty-three percent of Americans approve of his work in office while 65 percent disapprove, 2-1 negative, matching his career low last May.

Only three postwar presidents have gone lower — Jimmy Carter, Nixon and Harry Truman. And only one has had a higher disapproval rating, Nixon.

For Bush, the bad news just starts there. Dismay over the unpopular war is dragging him down across the board, from his personal ratings to his position vis-à-vis the resurgent Democrats. It's all a remarkable comedown for a president who, shortly after Sept. 11, 2001, saw his approval rating soar to the highest for any president in polls since 1938.

Today, by contrast, 71 percent in this ABC News/Washington Post poll say the country is headed seriously off on the wrong track — the most since budget battles led to a highly unpopular government shutdown in early 1996. Bush's war leadership clearly is the prime complaint: Sixty-four percent call the war a mistake, more than said so about Vietnam during that conflict.

The intensity of sentiment, moreover, has only grown: Fifty-one percent of Americans now "strongly" disapprove of Bush's job performance overall, a majority for the first time. Just 17 percent strongly approve — a 3-1 negative ratio.
State of the Union: Unhappy With Bush

[TAFKASP]

Posted: 1/22/07 at 2:02pm

This to me is fascinating. The man has marginal support and yet he can do as he pleases.

A few weeks ago Democrats were saying that they would not fund an escalation. Just recently however, Nancy Pelosi told a reporter that we (Congress) will not cut the funding for our troops.

So we're for our troops but against the war. We don't want them to die from cutting their funds, better they should die from being in the middle of a civil war.



Looney Tunes

Updated On: 1/22/07 at 02:02 PM

[Mother's Younger Brother]

Posted: 1/22/07 at 2:57pm

This is why the parliamentary system, with it's no-confidence vote, ROCKS.

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 1/22/07 at 8:42pm

CBS has him at an all-time low of 28%:

"President Bush will deliver his State of the Union address Tuesday night to a nation that's strongly opposed to his plan for increasing troops in Iraq and deeply unhappy with his performance as president, according to a CBS News poll.

Mr. Bush’s overall approval rating has fallen to just 28 percent, a new low, while more than twice as many (64 percent) disapprove of the way he's handling his job.

Two-thirds of Americans remain opposed to the president's plan for sending more than 20,000 additional U.S. troops to Iraq — roughly the same number as after Mr. Bush announced the plan. And 72 percent believe he should seek congressional approval for the troop increase.

However, the poll finds more Americans might back the president's plan if they were convinced it would assure U.S. success in Iraq.

However, Americans aren't convinced the U.S. needs a troop increase to achieve its goals in Iraq. Just 26 percent think that's needed, about the same number that think those goals can be reached without sending in more troops.

Forty-one percent think the U.S. can't achieve its goals regardless of troop levels.

The president's nationally televised message to Congress may not even reach many of those whose minds he would like to change. Less than half the public says it's very likely to watch the speech — and that answer comes more from those who already support him.

There's still more troubling news for the president: By a more than 2-to-1 margin, Americans think Mr. Bush does not share their priorities. Just 28 percent think he does, while 69 percent think he does not.

More than two-thirds of Americans also think the country has gotten off on the wrong track, while just 26 percent think it is headed in the right direction.

Mr. Bush's approval rating is much lower than it was one year ago, when 42 percent of Americans approved, and far lower than the ratings he received in polls prior to his previous State of the Union addresses. Those ratings have fallen steadily since a high of 82 percent in January 2002, shortly after the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.

His job approval is also far below those of other modern two-term presidents at this point in their second terms.

In January 1999, for example, just after his impeachment by the House of Representatives, President Bill Clinton's job approval rating was 65 percent. In January 1987, President Ronald Reagan's was 52 percent. In 1967, President Lyndon Johnson received a 47 percent approval rating, even as debate about the Vietnam War raged.

The war in Iraq remains the most important problem facing the country, cited by 33 percent of Americans, far more than mentioned the next top issues, the economy and jobs (8 percent) and health care (7 percent).

Only one in four believes the war is going even somewhat well, while three-quarters say it's going badly — something the president himself acknowledged earlier this month and the highest number since the war began.

Americans are split on whether Congress, now under Democratic control, should offer a non-binding resolution against the troop increase: 42 percent say yes and 42 percent say no. But more than half of Americans — including most Democrats — want Congress to cut off the money for the troop buildup, including a small number who want to cut funds for the entire war.

Mr. Bush is expected to talk mostly about domestic concerns in Tuesday's address — and that is what most Americans want to hear; just one in four wants to hear mostly about foreign policy and Iraq.

On the domestic front, Americans think the economy is in good shape, but a majority says the Social Security system needs to be fixed now.

The public is split on whether the 2001 tax cuts should be made permanent. More than half think the issue of illegal immigration is very serious, but are divided on whether Congress will actually pass immigration reform.

Americans continue to see global warming as a serious problem. Seven in 10 say it is a problem that is having a serious impact right now. A quarter disagrees."
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/01/22/opinion/polls/main2384943.shtml

[PalJoey]

Posted: 1/22/07 at 8:45pm

Poor George Bush...it's enough to make ya weep!

[Unknown User]

Posted: 1/22/07 at 9:04pm

tsk, why does 72% of America hate America?

btw, Lizz has a new post @ HUFFINGTON POST

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 1/22/07 at 9:06pm

"tsk, why does 72% of America hate America?"

Brill!

[wexy]

Posted: 1/22/07 at 10:09pm

He may declare himself King tomorrow night.

[ComaBaby01]

Posted: 1/23/07 at 12:08am

or Supreme Lord and Dictator.

of course, with his knowledge, he wouldn't know that a King would have next to no power. His good buddy ol' pal Tony Blair could help him with that.

Unless he's a distant relation to the Tudors.

i say we shoot for a nice and even 75%... hey, why stop there? ok, 80%.

[deadparrot]

Posted: 1/23/07 at 12:11am

I only wish the speech was on a Friday or Saturday, so I could do the drinking game thing.

Oh, well. I'll be watching with the College Dems, so I'm sure it'll be entertaining.

[pab]

Posted: 5/5/07 at 2:24pm

"May 5, 2007 - It’s hard to say which is worse news for Republicans: that George W. Bush now has the worst approval rating of an American president in a generation, or that he seems to be dragging every ’08 Republican presidential candidate down with him. But According to the new NEWSWEEK Poll, the public’s approval of Bush has sunk to 28 percent, an all-time low for this president in our poll, and a point lower than Gallup recorded for his father at Bush Sr.’s nadir. The last president to be this unpopular was Jimmy Carter who also scored a 28 percent approval in 1979. This remarkably low rating seems to be casting a dark shadow over the GOP’s chances for victory in ’08. The NEWSWEEK Poll finds each of the leading Democratic contenders beating the Republican frontrunners in head-to-head matchups."
The Elephant in the Room

[muscle23ftl]

Posted: 5/5/07 at 6:10pm

"Poor" made a fortune with this war and his 8 years. Well America, you voted for this criminal. Impeach!

[Caroline-Q-or-TBoo]

Posted: 5/5/07 at 6:11pm

well maybe we'll get a good play out this...

[vmlinnie]

Posted: 5/5/07 at 6:15pm

Parliamentary systems do Rock. We have an election coming up on May the 24th. The government has been dissolved. And yet, the PDs (a very small extreme right party, incumbent, in coalition with a large right-wing party) have been deciding tonight to pull out of government, because the leader of the larger party they're in bed with has taken big bribes, and told them about them, but now that the public know, it's become a problem. Someone tell them that there isn't a government to pull out of anymore...

[muscle23ftl]

Posted: 5/5/07 at 6:24pm

What can we do to get rid of this monster?

I went to www.impeach07.org
and filled an application to impeach him.
But what can we do?
Posting on this board/rant won't be much help, I think.

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 5/5/07 at 9:02pm

Is it just a phone interview if they consider your application?

[papalovesmambo]

Posted: 5/5/07 at 11:51pm

nice representative sample they took:

22% gop, 35% democrat, 36% ind total respondents
24% gop, 36% democrat, 37% ind registered voters

let's keep up with those representative samples right up 'til election day and then watch as people lose their minds trying to figure out how such "accurate" polling numbers could be so very far off.

[wonderfulwizard11]

Posted: 5/5/07 at 11:57pm

"Posting on this board/rant won't be much help, I think."

And you think filling out an application on a website will do any better?

[pab]

Posted: 5/6/07 at 12:14am

SURVEY METHODOLOGY

Results are based on telephone interviews with 1,001 adults, 18 and older, conducted May 2-3, 2007. Results are weighted so that the sample demographics match Census Current Population Survey parameters for gender, age, education, race, region, and population density. The overall margin of sampling error is plus or minus 4 percentage points for results based on 1,001 adults and 831 registered voters. Results based on smaller subgroups are subject to larger margins of sampling error. The margin of error is plus/minus 7 percentage points for results based on 422 registered Democrats and Dem. leaners and plus/minus 8 percentage points for results based on 324 registered Republicans and Rep. leaners. In addition to sampling error, the practical difficulties of conducting surveys can also introduce error or bias to poll results.

[Unknown User]

Posted: 5/6/07 at 1:51am

You know me Papa-- Normally I would agree with you, but I think in this case he is so gol-danged unpopular he's changing people's party afilliations. There just aren't enough people who will admit to being Republican anymore.

One of my two dyed-in-the-wool Republican nephews tonight responded to my partisan prodding with an explosion of Rage: "Yeah, I know, this guy is the worst. A zero. He's been wrong about everything he touches and now he's driving off even the slightest CHANCE that we can elect a Republican to fix things in '08!" This from a young man who six months ago dogged "stood behind his president".