Bush approval rating hits new low
Updated 5/8/2006 1:42 PM ET
By Susan Page, USA TODAY
WASHINGTON — President Bush's approval rating has slumped to 31% in a
new USA TODAY/Gallup Poll, the lowest of his presidency and a warning
sign for Republicans in the November elections.
The survey of 1,013 adults, taken Friday through Sunday, shows Bush's
standing down by 3 percentage points in a single week. His disapproval
rating also reached a record: 65%. The margin of error is +/- 3
percentage points.
"It is a challenging political environment," acknowledges Tracey
Schmitt, a spokeswoman for the Republican National Committee, "but we
are confident that ultimately voters in November will recognize that a
Democrat Congress would simply not be equipped to ensure either economic
or national security for our nation."
Bush's fall is being fueled by erosion among support from conservatives
and Republicans. In the poll, 52% of conservatives and 68% of
Republicans approved of the job he is doing. Both are record lows among
those groups.
Moderates gave him an approval rating of 28%, liberals of 7%.
"You hear people say he has a hard core that will never desert him, and
that has been the case for most of the administration," says Charles
Franklin, a political scientist at the University of Wisconsin who
studies presidential approval ratings. "But for the last few months, we
started to see that hard core seriously erode in support."
Only four presidents have scored lower approval ratings since the Gallup
Poll began regularly measuring it in the mid-1940s: Harry Truman,
Richard Nixon, Jimmy Carter and the first George Bush. When Nixon,
Carter and the elder Bush sank below 35%, they never again registered
above 40%.
Truman twice sank into the low 30s and then rose into the 60s, but the
third time his rating fell, it stayed below 40% as well.
"Historically it's been pretty devastating to presidents at this level,"
Franklin says. Even Republican members of Congress are "now so worried
about their electoral fortunes in November that he has less leverage
with them than he normally would with his own party controlling Congress."
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