President Bush's Job Approval Ratings Continue to Drop, According to Latest Harris Poll
Less than one-third of U.S. adults believe the country is going in the right direction
ROCHESTER, N.Y., March 14 /PRNewswire/ -- Although slightly better than the lowest approval ratings measured during his presidency (34% positive, 65% negative in November 2005), President Bush's job approval numbers have again taken a downward slide this month as just over one-third (36%) of U.S. adults rate his job performance as positive and 64 percent rate his performance as negative. In February, 40 percent viewed the president's job performance positively while 58 percent viewed it negatively. Some of this may be linked to the thoughts on the state of the country as 31 percent believe the country is moving in the right direction while 60 percent feel things have pretty seriously gotten off on the wrong track. This is directionally down from last month when 32 percent felt the country was moving in the right direction and 59 percent felt things had pretty seriously gotten off on the wrong track.
These are some of the results from the latest Harris Poll of 1,001 U.S. adults surveyed by telephone between March 3 and 7, 2006 by Harris Interactive(R).
For the first time, The Harris Poll(R) measured the job performance ratings for Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts. The chief justice starts off his tenure on the Court with 41 percent of U.S. adults viewing his job performance positively and 36 percent viewing it negatively. It will be interesting to see if the percentage of adults who say they are "not sure" about this job performance (23%) stays this high as the nomination and subsequent media coverage fades from the public's memory.
Administration ratings
For the first time since the hunting accident, Vice President Dick Cheney's job approval ratings were measured. Three in 10 U.S. adults view his job performance positively while 67 percent view it negatively. What is interesting is that there is no real change from November, prior to the accident, when 30 percent had a positive view and 65 percent had a negative view.
For two other administration officials, the news is mixed. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice still receives the highest performance ratings among all political figures measured in the poll as 51 percent have a positive view of her job performance as compared to 44 percent who have a negative view. While Secretary Rice's positive approval rating remained similar to what was measured in November 2005 (52%), her negative rating increased three percentage points (from 41%). Similarly for Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, his positive rating has remained steady (34% in November to 35% now), while his negative rating has increased slightly (59% in November to 61% now).
This month we also asked about Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove. Just over one-quarter (28%) rate the job he is doing positively while over half (55%) rate it negatively. U.S. adults appear more likely to have an opinion about Karl Rove, one way or another, than all four of the members of Congress and the Supreme Court Chief Justice included in this poll, as indicated by the percentage of "not sure's."
Congressional ratings
Republicans and Democrats in Congress can take some solace in the fact that their numbers have not changed much from November. However since they were not that good in November, this may not necessarily be good news for them. This month, Republicans have a 27 percent positive job approval rating while 68 percent of U.S. adults view their performance as negative. Democrats fair slightly worse with a 24 percent positive job approval rating and a 70 percent negative rating. In November, Republicans were 27 percent positive, 69 percent negative while Democrats were 25 percent positive, 70 percent negative.
Much of this negativity toward the two parties in Congress is also seen in the job performance numbers of some of its leaders.
* Republican Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist has a 21 percent positive
approval rating and a 55 percent negative rating. This is down from
November when he had a positive rating of 23 percent and a negative
rating of 52 percent.
* Things aren't much better for Democratic Senate Minority Leader Harry
Reid as about one in five adults (19%) gives him a positive job approval
rating while over half (53%) view his job performance negatively. When
his performance was last measured in August, about one-quarter (24%)
viewed his job performance positively while 47 percent viewed it
negatively.
* In the House, Republican Speaker Dennis Hastert has seen a slight up
tick in his approval ratings. This month they are at 26 percent
positive, up from 22 percent in November, while his negative job rating
is at 49 percent, down from 50 percent.
* Also measured for the first time was new Republican House Majority
Leader John Boehner who starts with a job approval of 23 percent
positive and 50 percent negative.
Important issues
Again this month, the most important issue for the government to address according to the American public is the war in Iraq, but that number has taken a dip. This month, 21 percent of U.S. adults believe it is the most important issue to address as compared to last month when 27 percent felt this way. Healthcare is next as 16 percent of adults believe the government should address this issue, closely followed by the economy (15%). While fewer adults think the war and healthcare are the most important issues (down 6 percentage points and 4 percentage points, respectively, from last month), more adults think gas and oil prices (up from 2% to 5%) and employment issues (up from 5% to 8%) should be top priorities.
TABLE 1
CURRENT RATINGS OF PRESIDENT, SENIOR CABINET MEMBERS AND PARTIES IN CONGRESS "How would you rate the job (READ ITEM) are/is doing - excellent, pretty good,
only fair, or poor?"
Base: All Adults
Excellent Pretty Only Poor Not Positive* Negative**
Good Fair Sure
Secretary of
State Condoleezza
Rice % 19 32 29 16 5 51 44
President George
W. Bush % 9 27 22 41 *** 36 64
Secretary of
Defense Donald
Rumsfeld % 8 28 29 31 4 35 61
Vice President
Dick Cheney % 7 23 26 41 3 30 67
Chief Justice
John Roberts % 8 33 29 8 23 41 36
Deputy White House
Chief of Staff
Karl Rove % 5 23 33 23 17 28 55
Democrats in
Congress % 3 21 43 27 6 24 70
Republicans in
Congress % 3 24 35 33 6 27 68
Senate Minority
Leader Harry Reid % 1 17 36 17 28 19 53
Senate Majority
Leader Bill Frist % 2 19 38 17 24 21 55
House Speaker
Dennis Hastert % 3 24 36 14 24 26 49
House Majority
Leader John
Boehner % 2 21 38 11 28 23 50
*Positive = excellent or pretty good.
**Negative = only fair or poor
***Less than 0.5%.
TABLE 2
POSITIVE RATINGS: TRENDS SINCE 9/11/01: SUMMARY
Base: All Adults
POSITIVE RATINGS Soon
After Feb. April Aug. Dec. Feb. April June
9/11 2003 2003 2003 2003 2004 2004 2004
President George
W. Bush % 88 52 70 57 50 51 48 50
Vice President
Dick Cheney % 69 45 55 42 42 41 36 42
Secretary of
State Condoleezza
Rice % ** ** ** ** ** ** ** **
Secretary of
Defense Donald
Rumsfeld % 78 56 71 55 57 50 45 47
POSITIVE RATINGS Nov. Feb. April June Aug. Nov. Mar.
2004 2005 2005 2005 2005 2005 2006
President George
W. Bush % 50 48 44 45 40 34 36
Vice President
Dick Cheney % 48 45 37 38 35 30 30
Secretary of State
Condoleezza Rice % ** 52 54 52 57 52 51
Secretary of
Defense Donald
Rumsfeld % 47 42 42 42 40 34 35
** N/A
TABLE 3
PRESIDENT BUSH'S OVERALL JOB RATING
(Not Sure's Excluded)
"How would you rate the overall job President George W. Bush is doing as
president - excellent, pretty good, only fair, or poor?"
Base: All Adults
TREND Positive* Negative**
2006 March % 36 64
February % 40 58
January % 43 56
2005 November % 34 65
August % 40 58
June % 45 55
April % 44 56
February % 48 51
2004 November % 50 49
October % 51 49
September % 45 54
August % 48 51
June % 50 49
April % 48 51
February % 51 48
2003 December % 50 49
October % 59 40
August % 57 41
June % 61 36
April % 70 29
February % 52 46
2002 December % 64 35
November % 65 33
October % 64 35
September % 68 30
August % 63 37
July % 62 37
June % 70 28
May % 74 25
April % 75 23
March % 77 22
February % 79 20
January % 79 19
2001 December % 82 17
November % 86 12
October % 88 11
August % 52 43
July % 56 39
June % 50 46
May % 59 35
March % 49 38
February % 56 26
*Positive = excellent or pretty good.
**Negative = only fair or poor.
TABLE 4
RATINGS OF VICE PRESIDENT DICK CHENEY
(Not Sure's Excluded)
"And how would you rate the job Vice President Cheney is doing - excellent,
pretty good, only fair or poor?"
Base: All Adults
TREND Positive* Negative**
2006 March % 30 67
2005 November % 30 65
August % 35 60
June % 38 56
April % 37 60
February % 45 52
2004 November % 48 50
October % 47 51
September % 40 54
August % 40 54
June % 42 49
April % 36 52
February % 41 48
2003 December % 42 47
October % 42 44
August % 42 45
June % 49 40
April % 55 36
February % 45 44
2002 December % 50 37
November % 52 39
October % 54 37
September % 52 37
August % 45 43
July % 46 41
June % 55 34
May % 55 33
April % 55 31
March % 59 29
February % 57 31
January % 55 31
2001 October % 69 20
July % 39 52
*Positive = excellent or pretty good.
**Negative = only fair or poor.
TABLE 5
RATINGS OF SECRETARY OF STATE CONDOLEEZZA RICE
(Not Sure's Excluded) "And how would you rate the job Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is doing -
excellent, pretty good, only fair or poor?"
Base: All Adults
TREND Positive* Negative**
2006 March % 51 44
2005 November % 52 41
August % 57 37
June % 52 41
April % 54 39
February % 52 40
*Positive = excellent or pretty good.
**Negative = only fair or poor.
TABLE 6
RATINGS OF SECRETARY OF DEFENSE DONALD RUMSFELD
(Not Sure's Excluded) "And how would you rate the job Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld is doing
- excellent, pretty good, only fair or poor?"
Base: All Adults
TREND Positive* Negative**
2006 March % 35 61
2005 November % 34 59
August % 40 58
June % 42 53
April % 42 56
February % 42 56
2004 November % 47 50
October % 46 50
September % 43 50
August % 45 49
June % 47 47
April % 45 47
February % 50 43
2003 December % 57 38
October % 47 44
August % 55 36
June % 60 32
April % 71 22
February % 56 35
2002 December % 59 30
November % 59 30
October % 60 30
September % 61 27
August % 60 29
July % 56 33
June % 65 24
May % 67 22
April % 70 18
March % 71 18
February % 70 17
January % 77 16
2001 December % 75 14
October % 78 12
*Positive = excellent or pretty good.
**Negative = only fair or poor.
TABLE 7
RATINGS OF HOUSE SPEAKER DENNIS HASTERT
(Not Sure's Excluded)
"And how would you rate the job House Speaker Dennis Hastert is doing -
excellent, pretty good, only fair or poor?"
Base: All Adults
TREND Positive* Negative**
2006 March % 26 49
2005 November % 22 50
August % 26 46
June % 28 44
April % 30 50
2004 September % 29 33
August % 29 33
June % 29 32
April % 25 35
February % 26 35
2003 December % 24 30
October % 29 35
August % 29 36
June % 34 31
April % 41 29
February % 33 34
2002 December % 26 33
November % 30 31
October % 30 29
September % 35 29
August % 29 35
July % 28 36
June % 34 31
May % 33 25
April % 32 26
March % 33 25
February % 37 25
January % 40 24
2001 October (high) % 52 16
August (low) % 27 29
2000 August (high) % 29 28
July (low) % 23 31
1999 October (low) % 25 34
April (high) % 36 39
*Positive = excellent or pretty good.
**Negative = only fair or poor.
TABLE 8
RATINGS OF SENATE MAJORITY LEADER BILL FRIST
(Not Sure's Excluded)
"And how would you rate the job Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist is doing -
excellent, pretty good, only fair or poor?"
Base: All Adults
TREND Positive* Negative**
2006 March % 21 55
2005 November % 23 52
August % 28 49
June % 28 47
April % 32 51
2004 September % 27 40
August % 28 38
June % 30 36
April % 26 36
February % 31 36
2003 December % 27 38
October % 29 34
August % 32 35
June % 38 32
April % 39 29
February % 37 30
*Positive = excellent or pretty good.
**Negative = only fair or poor
TABLE 9
RATINGS OF SENATE MINORITY LEADER HARRY REID
(Not Sure's Excluded)
"And how would you rate the job Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid is doing -
excellent, pretty good, only fair or poor?"
Base: All Adults
TREND Positive* Negative**
2006 March % 19 53
2005 August % 24 47
TABLE 10
RATINGS OF REPUBLICANS IN CONGRESS
(Not Sure's Excluded) "And how would you rate the job Republicans in Congress are doing - excellent,
pretty good, only fair or poor?"
Base: All Adults
TREND Positive* Negative**
2006 March % 27 68
2005 November % 27 69
August % 32 64
June % 37 58
April % 36 61
2004 September % 38 56
August % 40 54
June % &n
