Bush’s Approval Rating Plummets

Bush’s Approval Rating Drops to Lowest Since 9/11

Worst Marks Since 2001

By Richard Benedetto

September 12, 2003, the USA Today

http://www.usatoday.com/news/polls/tables/live/2003-09-11-poll-results.htm

WASHINGTON - President Bush’s public standing, on a downward
trend all summer, has slid to its lowest point since the Sept. 11
attacks two years ago, a USA TODAY/CNN/Gallup Poll shows.
Due in large part to an economy that continues to lose jobs and a
situation in Iraq that is messier and more costly than the
administration predicted, Bush is taking a hit.
A thin majority, 52%, approve of the overall job he is doing,
down from this year’s high of 71% in mid-April, when the war in
Iraq still had a glow of victory.
It’s even further from his 90% job approval rating in the
aftermath of the Sept. 11 attacks.
Bush gets his lowest marks on the economy; fewer than half
approve of his stewardship. The president got further bad news
Thursday with a report that claims for unemployment benefits
increased last week.

Bush says often that other economic indicators suggest the
outlook is bright and that his tax cuts will soon create more
jobs. "When Americans have more take-home pay to spend people are
more likely to find a job," he said Tuesday in Fort Lauderdale.
Democratic pollster Mark Mellman says Bush "has benefited from
circumstances beyond his control. Now reality is setting in."
Bush’s slippage suggests that if the election were held today, he
would be in a tough fight. Among registered voters, he holds a
slim 4-percentage point lead over an unnamed Democrat. He had a
double-digit lead two weeks ago.
"Taking a fall was inevitable, but he is increasingly vulnerable
now," says Jaime Regalado, a political scientist at California
State University at Los Angeles.
On Iraq, where the news has been dominated by continued attacks
on U.S. troops, 51% approve of Bush’s management. Public
satisfaction with the way things are going there has fallen below
50% for the first time, to 47%.
"The war in Iraq is showing escalating costs in money and human
life, and the American public is showing escalating doubts,"
Regalado says.

After a nationally televised speech Sunday night in which Bush
called Iraq the "central front" in the war on terrorism, more
than half say his administration does not have a clear plan for
handling the situation there.
Most still say Iraq was worth going to war over, but that support
has dwindled, too, in the five months since a statue of Saddam
Hussein fell in Baghdad.
Still, two in three give Bush high marks for his leadership in
the overall war on terrorism.
Americans continue to have more confidence in Republicans than
Democrats to keep the nation safe from terrorism and other
military threats, by 51%-36%.
" With all that anti-war rhetoric, the Democrats are appealing
only to their core voters," Republican pollster Bill McInturff
says.

For full poll results, go to

http://www.usatoday.com/news/polls/tables/live/2003-09-11-poll-results.htm