Gallup Poll Finds Bush Job Satisfaction Continues To Slip

08/26/2005

Paul Munnis

According to the latest Gallup Poll public opinion on the “state of the nation” can be assessed in a review of three key measures: the current president’s job approval rating, the public’s satisfaction with the way things are going in the country today, and public confidence in economic conditions.

The current presidential job rating shows that the Bush approval rating shows 56% of American disapprove of Mr. Bush. 

The public’s satisfaction with the way things are going in the country today is showing 84% dissatisfaction.

Public confidences in national economic conditions show that that 90% of the public would rate the current situation in the fair to poor range.

By all three measures, Mr. Bush can be seen to be in serious trouble with the public.

The full report can be read at:
http://www.gallup.com/poll/stateNation/

Former presidents received lower ratings. Bush’s father’s job approval rating plunged to 29% when he lead America into hyper inflation nearly destroying the U.S. economy in the process. President Clinton’s job approval-rating fell to 37% when he was impeached over the Monica Lewinski scandal. Richard Nixon’s value plunged to a 31% job approval rating as he was removed from office over Watergate.

Bush’s average approval rating for the last three Gallup Polls—all conducted in August—is 43%. The rolling average has been steadily declining throughout the year. Bush’s average approval ratings for January, February, and March of this year were in the 50% to 52% range, but they then began declining slowly in subsequent months. Bush’s average approval rating in May was 48%, declining to 46% in June, rising slightly in July, and then declining again to the current three-poll average of 43%.

The current poll finds a drop in support for Bush among independents, and a small drop in support among Republicans to the lowest level of his administration.

In two July polls in which Bush averaged an overall 49% approval rating, an average of 46% of independents approved. In the subsequent three polls (July 25-28, Aug. 5-7, and Aug. 8-11), Bush’s overall approval average dropped to 45%, and his average support among independents fell to 37%. Now, in the current poll, 32% of independents approve. (An average of 41% of independents have approved across all 2005 polls to date, excluding the most recent poll.)

Bush’s support among Republicans—although still very high—is now at the lowest level of his administration. His current 82% approval rating among Republicans is down from the 85%, 86%, 87%, 87%, and 86% recorded in the last five polls prior to this one, and is below the 89% Republican approval rating he has received across all 2005 polls before the most recent poll. He has averaged a 92% approval rating among Republicans for his entire presidency.

Bush’s approval rating among Democrats remains very low. His current 13% is down slightly from his 2005 average (excluding the current poll) of 17% and down from his administration average among Democrats of 35%.

Bush’s current 43% job approval rating is the lowest of all of these presidents with the exception of Richard Nixon, who was beset by the woes of Watergate by the summer of 1973. (Of course, Bush’s most recent 40% is lower still by comparison). This has some calling for the ouster of Bush.

The drop in President Bush’s job approval rating has been accompanied by a continuing drop in the American public’s overall satisfaction with the way things are going in the United States today.

Just 34% of Americans are satisfied with the way things are going in this country in the Aug. 22-25 Gallup Poll, while 62% are dissatisfied. This is the lowest satisfaction level of the entire Bush administration to date and is the lowest recorded by Gallup since January 1996.

The average satisfaction rating for 2005 before this poll has been 41%. The average for the five June, July, and August polls before this one in which satisfaction has been rated is 40%.

These results are based on telephone interviews with a randomly selected national sample of 1,007 adults, aged 18 and older, conducted Aug. 22-25, 2005. For results based on this sample, one can say with 95% confidence that the maximum error attributable to sampling and other random effects is ±3 percentage points. In addition to sampling error, question wording and practical difficulties in conducting surveys can introduce error or bias into the findings of public opinion polls.