Mr. 28.3 Percent

I found latest Bush job approval rating from Pollster.com:

President Bush's approval trend has taken a sharp downturn in recent weeks, to fall to a new low for the administration at 28.3%. This follows a lengthy period of stable approval at around 32-33%.

Recent polls from Gallup and AP/Ipsos put approval at 28%, a new low for the Gallup poll. Harris recently found approval at 26% while CBS News put approval at 28%. Pew similarly has approval at 28%, though the Diageo/Hotline result for registered voters (as opposed to adults in the other polls) has approval at 35%, the only recent poll over 30%.

While the President has taken a back seat to the primaries in recent months, his new approval slump reflects growing pessimism over the economy which has displaced the war in Iraq as the most important problem facing the country. Likewise the percent saying the nation is headed in the wrong direction has continued to grow in recent months, to a high of 81% in a recent CBS News poll.

Now President Bush's job approval ratings have been staying within around a 29-33 percent range for quite some time. There have been a number of polls that have placed Bush's approval at 28 percent. And I do have a Reuters/Zogby poll that placed President Bush's approval rating at 24 percent. But this appears to be more than just a simple drop in the poll numbers--this could be the start of another downward trend in President Bush's popularity. Just look at the graph:

Graph showing Bush approval ratings from January 2005 to April 2008. From Pollster.com

Starting in January 2008, there is a downward sloping trend in the Bush poll numbers after the poll numbers had stabilized at around 33 percent during the fourth quarter of 2007. At the beginning of this year, something is causing Americans to turn especially sour against the Bush administration. We know what that something is--or rather, a whole number of somethings. It is the bad news that has been coming out on the U.S. economy, recession, job losses, the war heating up in Iraq, the financial meltdown on Wall Street, the continued housing crisis, the credit crunch. All of these stories are making Americans jittery and worried about their future, and about how this country is heading in the wrong track. And the downward trend in President Bush's popularity is a clear sign of Americans displeasure with this president.

I don't know if President Bush is really worried about these poll numbers, or if he doesn't really care anymore--he is gone next January. But this should be a major concern for the Republican Party, and for the McCain campaign. Whether they like it or not, they are trying to run for a third term on the basic Bush platform of tax cuts to stimulate the economy, business deregulation, more domestic spying, and continue the Bush war in Iraq. If things continue to get worst in this country over the next six months, and the American people continue to pummel Bush with even lower job approval numbers, both John McCain and the GOP could find themselves in an electoral disaster as Americans may decide that they no longer want a third Bush term, or to have a minority Republican Party continue to block legislation in Congress through filibustering. As we get closer to November, the importance of this election is really starting to stand out as a signpost asking Americans which direction would they like to take their country to. And on that signpost will be picture of King George The Deciderer, with his declining job approval numbers showing Americans just how far he has gone in destroying the prosperity and security of this country.