WASHINGTON — President Bush has set a record he'd presumably prefer to avoid: the highest disapproval rating of any president in the 70-year history of the Gallup Poll.
In a USA TODAY/Gallup Poll taken Friday through Sunday, 28% of Americans approve of the job Bush is doing; 69% disapprove. The approval rating matches the low point of his presidency, and the disapproval sets a new high for any president since Franklin Roosevelt.
The previous record of 67% was reached by Harry Truman in January 1952, when the United States was enmeshed in the Korean War.
Bush's rating has worsened amid "collapsing optimism about the economy," says Charles Franklin, a political scientist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison who studies presidential approval. Record gas prices and a wave of home foreclosures have fueled voter angst.
Bush also holds the record for the other extreme: the highest approval rating of any president in Gallup's history. In September 2001, in the days after the 9/11 attacks, Bush's approval spiked to 90%. In another record, the percentage of Americans who say the invasion of Iraq was a mistake reached a new high, 63%, in the latest poll.
Assessments of Bush's presidency are harsh. By 69%-27%, those polled say Bush's tenure in general has been a failure, not a success.
Low approval ratings make it more difficult for presidents to maneuver, limiting their ability to get legislation passed or boost candidates in congressional elections.
"The president understands war and the slowdown in the economy weigh down public opinion, but the situation in Iraq is improving, and the economy is about to get a big boost from the stimulus package," White House spokesman Scott Stanzel said.
Bush has had dismal ratings through most of his second term. His approval rating hasn't reached as high as 50% since May 2005. He has been steadily below 40% since September 2006.
Views of Bush divide sharply along party lines. Among Republicans, 66% approve and 32% disapprove. Disapproval is nearly universal — 91% — among Democrats. Of independents, 23% approve, 72% disapprove of the job he's doing.
I love White House spokesman Scott Stanzel's spin on Bush's unpopularity. The president understands that the war and the economy are bad, but they will be getting better--you just have to wait a little longer. You just have to wait until January, when Bush will leave office and dump the entire mess on his successor. And if things are still bad in January, 2009--it is not Bush's fault!
I guess King George, The Deciderer is still fantasizing about history vindicating him--just like Harry Truman.
The real interesting number in this USA Today poll is the independents, with 23 percent approving of President Bush's job performance, and 72 percent disapproving of Bush. Republican presidential candidate Senator John McCain will certainly try to solicit the independent voters with the message that he is a "maverick" senator who has butted heads with the GOP. However, McCain's political policies are pretty much an extension of the Bush administration's policies. And the independents are overwhelmingly disapproving of President Bush's job performance. The key point here for the Democrats will be to tie this albatross of President Bush around John McCain's neck, and force the McCain campaign to sink within the Bush administration's failures. And McCain is certainly tying this Bush albatross to himself, with his continued support for keeping the war in Iraq going for another 100 years, making the Bush tax cuts to the rich permanent, and allowing the U.S. to drown in even more debt. It is a powerful message that the Democrats can use to convince the independents to not vote for McCain, if they are convinced that a McCain presidency will really constitute a third Bush term. And if the U.S. economy and the war in Iraq continue to worsen to November, that will cause even more problems for the McCain campaign in their own desire to court the independent vote.
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