Bush Ratings Still in Trough

Amidst news of job changes at the White House in the last week, President Bush's job approval ratings remain low, with only 35% of US adults giving him a positive rating and 63% giving him a negative rating, according to the latest Harris Poll.

Attitudes toward the state of the country have changed more substantially in the last month. Just over one quarter (27%) of US adults say things in the country are going in the right direction, while 65% say things have 'gotten off on the wrong track'. In March, nearly a third (31%) of adults thought things were going in the right direction, and 60% that they were on the wrong track.

There is only a modest gender gap in opinion: approximately one-third (32%) of women and 38% of men view President Bush's job performance as positive. On 'how things are going', women are much more likely to be pessimistic. Only 21% of women say things are going in the right direction as compared to 33% of men.

Partisans appear to fall in line, with 71% of Republicans viewing President Bush's job performance in a positive light, as compared to 8% of Democrats and 27% of Independents. While the Republican number is probably lower than the White House would like, members of the president's own party tend to support him. Yet, when ideology is examined, those classified as 'conservatives' are less likely than Republicans to be supportive. Half of conservatives (49%) view the President's job performance in a positive light while half (50%) view it in a negative one.

When asked if the election for Congress were held today whether they would vote Republican or Democrat, 37% of adults say they would vote for the Republican candidate while 41% say they would vote for the Democratic candidate. This is a slight improvement for Republicans since January when 34% said they would vote Republican and 43% Democrat. The recent resignation announcement by Majority Leader Tom DeLay may have helped the Republicans.

The war in Iraq is again the most important issue for the government to address (cited by 23% of US adults). The issue that showed the largest increase in importance is immigration, which has jumped to 19% now, up from 4% last month. Congress' taking up legislation and subsequent protests around the country appear to have raised this issue's importance. Healthcare is next, with 13% rating it most important to address, followed by the economy (12%) and education (10%).

The Harris Poll was conducted by telephone between April 7 and 10, 2006 among a nationwide cross section of 1,008 adults (aged 18 and over), with figures weighted to match the population on key demographics.

The company is online at www.harrisinteractive.com .

All articles 2006-23 written and edited by Mel Crowther and/or Nick Thomas, 2024- by Nick Thomas, unless otherwise stated.

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