Historic Failure: Bush Leaves Office With Lowest Approval Rating In 70 Years

Discussion in 'Politics' started by ByLoSellHi, Jan 19, 2009.

  1. Add the Presidency to Bush's long line of failures, along with running a baseball franchise, oil company, being a student - it's hard to keep track with 'Dubya.'


    http://www.usatoday.com/printedition/news/20080422/a_pollbox22.art.htm


    Bush's disapproval rating worst of any president in 70 years

    By Susan Page
    USA TODAY

    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.
     
  2. Mercor

    Mercor

    Bubblegum statistics.
    Of the 69% who have low approval for Bush less then half could find Iraq on a map.

    These are people who's knowledge is gained from the Daily show and SNL.
     
  3. Finding Iraq on a map was bad enough, now we have to find Kenya on the map.
     
  4. Not bubblegum stats Mercor. The average American reads at the 8th grade level. So our electorate is in fact a bunch of middle schoolers. Very likely with the same emotional makeup as well.
     
  5. Mercor

    Mercor

    You mean the Birthplace of our 44th president.
     
  6. 4XQs

    4XQs

    Looks like someone are unfamiliar with the 50th state... or believe everything they read on the net.
     
  7. I think we all know Obama is from the planet Krypton

    [​IMG]
     
  8. Only History can judge which planet this man is from.

    [​IMG]
     
  9. 28% may seem high but don't forget that Herbert Hoover received 40% of the popular vote in 1932.
     
    #10     Jan 19, 2009