http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/03/19/bush.poll/index.html
From Paul Steinhauser
CNN Deputy Political Director
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Just 31 percent of Americans approve of how President Bush is handling his job, according to a poll released Wednesday, the fifth anniversary of the start of the Iraq war
Sixty-seven percent of those questioned in a CNN/Opinion Research Corporation survey disapprove of the president's performance.
The 31 percent approval number is a new low for Bush in CNN polling, and 40 points lower than the president's number at the start of the Iraq war.
"Bush's approval rating five years ago, at the start of the Iraq war, was 71 percent, and that 40-point drop is almost identical to the drop President Lyndon Johnson faced during the Vietnam War," said CNN polling director Keating Holland.
"Johnson's approval rating was 74 percent just before Congress passed the Gulf of Tonkin resolution in 1964, which effectively authorized the Vietnam War. Four years later, his approval was down to 35 percent, a 39-point drop that is statistically identical to what Bush has faced so far over the length of the Iraq war," he said.
Predictably, Democrats and Republicans don't see eye to eye when it comes to Bush: 64 percent of Republicans approve of Bush's job performance, while just 9 percent of Democrats do.
The president's approval rating has been below 35 percent since October and has not cracked 40 percent since September 2006.
Still, Bush's approval number is still better than the lowest number for his father, George H.W. Bush, who bottomed out at 29 percent in July 1992; Jimmy Carter, who fell to 28 percent in June 1979; Richard Nixon, at 24 percent in July and August of 1974; and Harry Truman, who dipped to 22 percent in 1952.
"Lame-duck presidents presiding over unpopular wars or struggling economies have gotten low approval ratings in the past." Holland said.
"By contrast, lame ducks like Ronald Reagan, Dwight Eisenhower and Bill Clinton had robust approval ratings in their final years in office, but each one was presiding over good economic times and a country at peace."
Way to go george!
From Paul Steinhauser
CNN Deputy Political Director
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Just 31 percent of Americans approve of how President Bush is handling his job, according to a poll released Wednesday, the fifth anniversary of the start of the Iraq war
Sixty-seven percent of those questioned in a CNN/Opinion Research Corporation survey disapprove of the president's performance.
The 31 percent approval number is a new low for Bush in CNN polling, and 40 points lower than the president's number at the start of the Iraq war.
"Bush's approval rating five years ago, at the start of the Iraq war, was 71 percent, and that 40-point drop is almost identical to the drop President Lyndon Johnson faced during the Vietnam War," said CNN polling director Keating Holland.
"Johnson's approval rating was 74 percent just before Congress passed the Gulf of Tonkin resolution in 1964, which effectively authorized the Vietnam War. Four years later, his approval was down to 35 percent, a 39-point drop that is statistically identical to what Bush has faced so far over the length of the Iraq war," he said.
Predictably, Democrats and Republicans don't see eye to eye when it comes to Bush: 64 percent of Republicans approve of Bush's job performance, while just 9 percent of Democrats do.
The president's approval rating has been below 35 percent since October and has not cracked 40 percent since September 2006.
Still, Bush's approval number is still better than the lowest number for his father, George H.W. Bush, who bottomed out at 29 percent in July 1992; Jimmy Carter, who fell to 28 percent in June 1979; Richard Nixon, at 24 percent in July and August of 1974; and Harry Truman, who dipped to 22 percent in 1952.
"Lame-duck presidents presiding over unpopular wars or struggling economies have gotten low approval ratings in the past." Holland said.
"By contrast, lame ducks like Ronald Reagan, Dwight Eisenhower and Bill Clinton had robust approval ratings in their final years in office, but each one was presiding over good economic times and a country at peace."
Way to go george!
