Bush Approval Measured at All-Time Low

[DealMonkey]

You can't get any lower than this guy. Really.

Bush Approval Measured at All-Time Low
Newsweek Poll Measures Bush Approval at 28 Percent

President Bush's approval rating has dropped to 28 percent in a Newsweek poll released this weekend, the lowest of any president in a generation.

Bush's low is now tied with Jimmy Carter during the Iran hostage crisis. Only two modern presidents have fared worse -- Richard Nixon, at 23 percent, and Harry Truman, bogged down in the Korean War, at 22 percent.

"When presidents get down into the 20's -- as Harry Truman, Jimmy Carter, Richard Nixon [did], of course -- what it tells us, of course, is that they have lost their hold on the public's imagination. The public is so at odds with them, they don't have credibility any more. The public does not trust them -- and it's ruinous."

Like President Carter, Bush faces domestic and international crises -- in Iraq and on such pocketbook issues as a housing slump and rising gas prices.

"This has been the year of horrors for the Bush administration, reeling from an election result and then moving into scandal after scandal," said Norman Ornstein, political analyst at the American Enterprise Institute. "The clear majority of Americans, if they could, would just TiVo through the rest of this administration and move on to the next."

Nearly two-thirds of respondents also found Bush "stubborn and unwilling to admit mistakes."

The president has now had less-than-majority favorability numbers for three years. Only President Truman was as low for longer. It has been a steep fall from Bush's peak approval rating of 92 percent after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, the highest on record for any president.

While other recent polls showed different results, this poll found disaffection with the president may be dragging down Republican presidential hopefuls.

"No Republican will win in 2008 on keeping Washington as it is," former House Speaker Newt Gingrich said on CBS' "Face the Nation" program. "Unless they're prepared to offer that change, I think the country will almost certainly elect a Democrat."

But seriously, what an appropriate send off for Bush: "Failed War President" should be the lead-in for the history books.

 

[miketheidiot]

wow i've never seen this thread before :roll:

 

[Moonbeam]

Hehe, I took my Mom to lunch today, she's an official in a Republican's womans club, and she started in on Bush killing our troops. I guess her good genes finally started shining through.

 

[Lemon law]

The real question is somewhat two fold---will this poll replicate with other polls and hence be a reliable measure---and will this be yet another stair step on the way to the basement,
or will GWB have hit a stable bottom and will afterwards go slightly back upwards?

Too early to tell yet might be the safe answer. But it may also be a peek at how the public views GWB's handling of Gonzales and of the Iraq war veto. And if so, many democrats will be saying stay the course George, on those two issues. I also note Boenher is also making some noises that the naives in the GOP are somewhat restless lately.

Now if we can just get Laura to file for divorce and get Barney to chewing on GWB's leg, we might have a hope that GWB&co. will learn something.

 

[dahunan]

What would happen if the Military turned on the President and started a Coup?

 

[Aimster]

Bush is a terrorist

 

[tweaker2]

28%?...........twenty eight percent?..........is that all it's dropped? how is it that his poll numbers haven't dropped to zero percent yet?

the guy is screwing thngs up so badly now, i can't imagine how worse he has to get before his poll results drop below twenty.

i'm surprized bush and his pals aren't desperate enough yet to drag out another "boogyman alert" on the homefront to try to boost his numbers up. well, i guess the timing isn't right.

so, by next summer/fall, we'll have a series of terror alerts, more anthrax scares and osama will once again become public enemy #1 in the eyes of the rnc and the folks that really reallllly want to believe it will boost bush's and his party's numbers up again.

some people never learn.

 

[compuwiz1]

<gomer pyle> Surprise, surprise, surprise</gomer pyle> :shocked:

Am I the only one, who's world is gonna crumble, based on this news?

NEWS=New infomation. Guess none of us knows anything about this. LOL

 

[imported_Shivetya]

and opinion polls are supposed to do what? Justify some people's irrational hatred?

I certainly hope they are not used to make decision on how to operate a government.

 

[Red Dawn]

Originally posted by: Shivetya
and opinion polls are supposed to do what? Justify some people's irrational hatred?

I certainly hope they are not used to make decision on how to operate a government.

What's so irrational about hating an incompetent asshole who's responsible for so much death and destruction?

 

[lozina]

That's a pretty scary number. It means that 28% of our population are so unconsciously submissive to authority they'd probably thank the black masked soldiers who take them away to some forced labor detention camp thinking it was Disney World.

 

[dmcowen674]

I'm shocked it's even holding at 28%.

Amazing power the resident Bushco supporters in here have.

 

[LegendKiller]

Originally posted by: Shivetya
and opinion polls are supposed to do what? Justify some people's irrational hatred?

I certainly hope they are not used to make decision on how to operate a government.

Yeah, because even though almost 3/4 of the population you "represent" doesn't like your policy, you should keep doing it because you have your own agenda and that doesn't include listening to the majority. When did the public become beholden to the government and not the other way around? Ya know, I think that may be called a dictatorship.

 

[ProfJohn]

I am wondering why his rating has dropped even more. Nothing has really changed in the last month or so.

I guess the continuing mess in Iraq is just turning more and more people off.

I don?t like the approve/disapprove style polls.
Would make more sense to have some type of 1 to 5 scale or poor/average/good type thing.

The approve/disapprove is too arbitrary. I like some of what he has done and don?t like some of what he has done, how do I decide to approve or disapprove?

 

[Don Vito Corleone]

Originally posted by: ProfJohn
I am wondering why his rating has dropped even more. Nothing has really changed in the last month or so.

I guess the continuing mess in Iraq is just turning more and more people off.

I don?t like the approve/disapprove style polls.
Would make more sense to have some type of 1 to 5 scale or poor/average/good type thing.

The approve/disapprove is too arbitrary. I like some of what he has done and don?t like some of what he has done, how do I decide to approve or disapprove?

It doesn't seem endlessly complicated to me, particularly given that he has, IMO, exhibited pretty uniformly poor performance. My own feeling is that from an approval/disapproval standpoint, the electorate (and, more than likely, history) will generally judge his performance principally on his decision to go to war in Iraq, and on how the war has been conducted. As to the first point, I think Operation Iraqi Freedom is likely THE worst foreign-policy blunder in American history. As to the latter, I don't believe any reasonably objective person could argue that OIF has been conducted optimally or even close to it. That alone would merit a "disapprove" from me, particularly when you fold in the Bush administration's countless other failures and misdeeds, both foreign and domestic.

As to your first point, my guess is that the cause of the worsening in poll numbers relates to the Attorney General scandal, as it appears President Bush is once again standing by an appointee with dubious credentials who screwed up in a major way. The White House clearly has a problem when so many high-profile Republicans are calling for Gonzales' resignation.

 

[jman19]

Originally posted by: ProfJohn
I am wondering why his rating has dropped even more. Nothing has really changed in the last month or so.

I guess the continuing mess in Iraq is just turning more and more people off.

I don?t like the approve/disapprove style polls.
Would make more sense to have some type of 1 to 5 scale or poor/average/good type thing.

The approve/disapprove is too arbitrary. I like some of what he has done and don?t like some of what he has done, how do I decide to approve or disapprove?

Nothing changing in the last month or so is exactly why his rating is dropping. Perception of the war has been bad and isn't getting any better - the longer it drags on with no real successes, the more people will disapprove of Bush's job performance. It's pretty simple really.

Approve/disapprove isn't arbitrary, it just requires you to weigh the pros/cons of the person in question to arrive at a binary decision.

 

[dullard]

Originally posted by: Lemon law
The real question is somewhat two fold---will this poll replicate with other polls and hence be a reliable measure---and will this be yet another stair step on the way to the basement, or will GWB have hit a stable bottom and will afterwards go slightly back upwards?

Too early to tell yet might be the safe answer. But it may also be a peek at how the public views GWB's handling of Gonzales and of the Iraq war veto. And if so, many democrats will be saying stay the course George, on those two issues. I also note Boenher is also making some noises that the naives in the GOP are somewhat restless lately.

Yes, this is replicated by at least one other poll. Harris had him at 28% just a few days ago. Rassmussen, always on the highest end of polls, has him tied at the lowest monthly average. But, I think he has approached about the lowest he can get barring some major new scandal (not another minor scandal like the dozens of others, but a really major scandal). Look at the first link, while it is getting lower and lower, it is asymptotically approaching a base level. This core level of people will never say they disapprove no matter what happens (even if they disapprove). Republicans do it, but so do democrats. There are always a few people who are too proud to say their party had a bad apple. P&N has many prime examples on either side of people who will never change their opinion on a person no matter what happens.

I do believe the latest problems are related to the Iraq war. The troop surge, combined with no progress, increased deaths, and a veto all fly in the face of what voters expressed last year. But, there is also a fundamental problem for Bush and republicans. The number of republicans in the country has hit a new low. The fraction of people identifying as R has dropped >15% in a couple of years (from 37.3% of the population to 31.5%). The fringe republicans are fleeing in droves to become independents.

 

[Moonbeam]

Originally posted by: Shivetya
and opinion polls are supposed to do what? Justify some people's irrational hatred?

I certainly hope they are not used to make decision on how to operate a government.

Yup. It would be a f@cking shame if government listened to the people.

 

[DealMonkey]

It's not just Iraq, it's starting to be the economy too. While the economic numbers have been mostly good during Bush's two terms, high gas prices combined with a housing implosion is starting to really cause some pain.

 

[Lemon law]

I think that there is a real potential to see valid GWB poll numbers drop to sub 20% numbers as more GWB chickens come home to roost. While non-prof John raised a semi-valid point about the polling questions being a binary yes no, its still directly comparable with previous poll numbers that asked the same questions---and can be traced all the way back from inauguration day, to pre 911 polls, to post 911 numbers, and all during the intervening years to today. And we can also ask what if a 3,5, or 7 point Lickert scale was used instead? But at the end of the day, there is no way to spin 28% into good news, and a possible sub 20% polling plus criminal charges may add up to impeachment. And Nixon was the source authority on that particular issue.

While its always possible to see some news event break in the direction GWB&co. wants, right now, all the events seem to break in exactly the way GWB&co. does not want, and right now the administration is hanging on by their fingernails on quite a few issues. And if the administration loses their fingernail grip on any one of a number of major events, the floodgates of disaster are opened wide.

 

[Sheik Yerbouti]

Originally posted by: ProfJohn
I am wondering why his rating has dropped even more. Nothing has really changed in the last month or so.

I guess the continuing mess in Iraq is just turning more and more people off.

I don?t like the approve/disapprove style polls.
Would make more sense to have some type of 1 to 5 scale or poor/average/good type thing.

The approve/disapprove is too arbitrary. I like some of what he has done and don?t like some of what he has done, how do I decide to approve or disapprove?

How can you wonder? If someone hits you with a stick, you are going to disapprove of them, if they keep whacking you with the same stick, you disapproval is going to increase. dumbya's been hitting us with the same stick for far too long. I'm shocked it's as high as it is.
He doesn't deserve 10%.
Oh, and to go with your 1 - 5 scale, for dumbya, you'd better make it 0 - 5.

 

[OrByte]

It's scary that 28% still approve of his work.

seriously.

 

[nageov3t]

will we someday reach the point where Dick Cheney actually has higher approval ratings than Bush? :shocked:

 

[Thump553]

Originally posted by: loki8481
will we someday reach the point where Dick Cheney actually has higher approval ratings than Bush? :shocked:

According to this site Bush has already sunk below Cheney.

What we are seeing now is the meltdown of the President's natural base. That is to say, those people who in the past have consistently supported GWB have started to give up on him, I feel due to his performance and policy choices.

And anyone who is surprised by this continuing decline has their head in the sand as far as any objective view of this government. Bad performance, bad policy decisions, intrasigent stubborness to correct obvious blunders, a rash of scandals-it's a perfect storm. The question these days to most people is not whether they agree with GWB or not, but rather how to best correct his blunders and bad choices.

 

[dmcowen674]

Originally posted by: OrByte
It's scary that 28% still approve of his work.

seriously.

Not surprised looking at the posts still being made in here.