Bush’s approval rating has fallen to 28%, its lowest level yet. Much further and his quip about Laura and his dog being the only ones following him might turn out prophetic. But the Harris poll revealed a few things more than just how disliked Bush is, it revealed how much we Americans dislike our government in general. No one comes out smelling like a rose, except in a highly comparative sense.
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 Good | Only Fair | Poor | Not Sure | Positive* | Negative** | |
| % | % | % | % | % | % | % | |
| Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice | 12 | 33 | 29 | 21 | 6 | 45 | 50 |
| President George W. Bush | 7 | 22 | 22 | 48 | 2 | 28 | 70 |
| Democrats in Congress | 5 | 29 | 34 | 24 | 7 | 35 | 58 |
| House Speaker Nancy Pelosi | 5 | 25 | 33 | 23 | 14 | 30 | 56 |
| Vice President Dick Cheney | 5 | 20 | 25 | 44 | 7 | 25 | 68 |
| Defense Secretary Robert Gates | 4 | 25 | 36 | 19 | 16 | 29 | 55 |
| Congress | 3 | 24 | 43 | 27 | 4 | 27 | 69 |
| Republicans in Congress | 3 | 20 | 41 | 33 | 4 | 22 | 74 |
| Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid | 2 | 19 | 35 | 17 | 26 | 22 | 52 |
*Positive = excellent or pretty good
**Negative = only fair or poor
The only thing more repellent to the American people than their President seems to be their Vice President. The only thing less popular than the Vice President seems to be the GOP Congressional minority that was just turfed out in the last election. Seems they aren’t doing any better in the opposition than they fared in the majority.
Of course, conservatives will crow that the Democratic majority and it’s leaders Pelosi and Reid aren’t all that much more popular; indeed Pelosi appears almost as toxic as Bush, and Reid fares worse than even Cheney. Problem with that theory is that lots of folks don’t even know who Reid and Pelosi are, so the comparison isn’t really apt. The more telling metric for Reid, Pelosi and the Democratic Congress are their negatives, which are all well below 60%, whereas the GOP figures are all near or above 70% (save for the outlier Rice, who is demonstrably irrelevant to Administration policy and a damned lackey anyhow).
The poll’s Right/Wrong track is also trouble for the GOP in 2008. Even though voters turfed the GOP majority, they are growing ever more disenchanted with the country’s direction, shifting another 5 points since the mid-terms. We’re still in the territory of the 1994 Republican take over. This means that voters are going to be looking to Democrats for new leadership in the Presidency, and willing to make further changes in Congress. This favors an additional increase in the Democratic majority.
Right Direction or Wrong Track
No Opinion’s, Not Sure’s and Decline to Answer’s Excluded
"Generally speaking, would you say things in the country are going in the right direction or have they pretty seriously gotten off on the wrong track?"
Base: All adults
| TREND | Right Direction | Wrong Track | |
| % | % | ||
| 2007 | April | 26 | 67 |
| February | 29 | 62 | |
| 2006 | November | 31 | 58 |
| October (10/25) | 27 | 63 | |
| October (10/13) | 29 | 62 | |
| September | 31 | 59 | |
| August | 26 | 64 | |
| July | 28 | 61 | |
| June | 28 | 64 | |
| May | 24 | 69 | |
| April | 27 | 65 | |
| March | 31 | 60 | |
| February | 32 | 59 | |
| January | 33 | 54 | |
| 2005 | November | 27 | 68 |
| August | 37 | 59 | |
| June | 38 | 55 | |
| January | 46 | 48 | |
| 2004 | September | 38 | 57 |
| June | 35 | 59 | |
| 2003 | December | 35 | 57 |
| June | 44 | 51 | |
| 2002 | December | 36 | 57 |
| June | 46 | 48 | |
| 2001 | December | 65 | 32 |
| June | 43 | 52 | |
| January | 46 | 39 | |
| 2000 | October | 50 | 41 |
| June | 40 | 51 | |
| January | 50 | 38 | |
| 1999 | June | 37 | 55 |
| March | 47 | 45 | |
| 1998 | December | 43 | 51 |
| June | 48 | 44 | |
| 1997 | December | 39 | 56 |
| April | 36 | 55 | |
| 1996 | December | 38 | 50 |
| June | 29 | 64 | |
| 1995 | December | 26 | 62 |
| June | 24 | 65 | |
| 1994 | December | 29 | 63 |
| June | 28 | 65 |
How do I know that this dissatisfaction isn’t with the Democrats’ handling of their new majority and that the GOP are going storm back into the majority? Because that degree of volatility simply isn’t possible in our gerrymandered, incumbent advantaged, money drenched electoral system, for one. But more importantly, the issues that voters are hot for change on are Democratic issues. The war in Iraq and health care are the major drivers of voter dissatisfaction and Democrats own reform on these issues. The GOP prescription for Iraq and health care are more of the same, stay the course, and have a health savings account and a second mortgage to pay for your drugs. The electorate is at a breaking point and the GOP has nothing to offer them on their biggest concerns that isn’t already tried and discredited. 2008 will be an even greater Democratic landslide than 2006.
Most Important Issues for Government to Address
"What do you think are the two most important issues for the government to address?"
Spontaneous, unprompted replies
Base: All Adults
| ’01 | ’02 | ’03 | ’04 | ’05 | ’06 | ’06 | ’06 | ’06 | ’06 | ’07 | ’07 | |
| Dec | Dec | June | Oct | Aug | Feb | June | Aug | Oct | Nov | Feb | April | |
| % | % | % | % | % | % | % | % | % | % | % | % | |
| (The) war | 12 | 18 | 8 | 35 | 41 | 27 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 33 | 29 | 30 |
| Healthcare (not Medicare) | 5 | 10 | 14 | 18 | 11 | 20 | 12 | 12 | 13 | 15 | 12 | 15 |
| Iraq | – | 11 | 3 | 9 | 6 | 5 | 8 | 7 | 8 | 10 | 10 | 13 |
| The economy (non-specific) | 32 | 34 | 25 | 28 | 19 | 15 | 14 | 16 | 15 | 12 | 9 | 10 |
| Education | 12 | 11 | 13 | 7 | 8 | 8 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 7 | 7 | 9 |
| Immigration | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 20 | 10 | 12 | 11 | 7 | 9 |
| Crime/violence | 1 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 6 |
| Terrorism | 22 | 17 | 11 | 7 | 7 | 6 | 4 | 9 | 7 | 3 | 9 | 5 |
| Taxes | 6 | 5 | 11 | 8 | 5 | 6 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 7 | 5 |
| Employment/jobs | 7 | 8 | 8 | 10 | 3 | 5 | 7 | 6 | 6 | 7 | 4 | 5 |
| Environment | 1 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 4 |
| Foreign policy (non-specific) | 2 | 4 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 4 |
| Social Security | 3 | 2 | 4 | 4 | 10 | 7 | 5 | 2 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 4 |
| Military/defense | 4 | 1 | 5 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 |
| Gas and oil prices | X | X | 1 | 1 | 10 | 2 | 8 | 8 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 3 |
| Second Amendment (right to bear arms) | * | X | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | * | 2 |
| Religion (decline of) | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | * | * | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 |
| Domestic/social issues (non-specific) | 2 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 2 | * | 3 | 1 | * | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| Homeland/domestic security/public safety | 8 | 9 | 3 | 6 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 2 |
| School safety | X | X | 2 | * | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | * | * | * | 2 |
| Energy | X | X | 1 | 1 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 2 |
| Budget/Government spending | X | X | X | X | X | X | 5 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 5 | 2 |
| Drugs | 2 | 3 | 3 | * | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 2 |
| Poverty | 1 | 2 | 3 | * | 4 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 5 | 3 | 2 | 2 |
| Medicare | 1 | 1 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 2 |
| Abortion | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| Peace/nukes | 2 | 2 | 3 | * | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Welfare | 1 | 1 | 3 | * | 3 | 1 | 1 | X | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Family values (decline of) | * | * | 1 | 1 | 1 | * | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Election reform | X | 1 | 1 | * | 1 | 1 | * | 1 | * | * | 2 | 1 |
| Bush | X | x | x | X | x | 1 | X | * | 1 | x | * | 1 |
| Downsizing government | * | X | X | 1 | * | * | 1 | * | * | * | 1 | 1 |
| AIDS | * | * | 2 | X | * | * | * | 1 | * | * | 2 | 1 |
| National security | 6 | 3 | 6 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 |
| Homelessness | 2 | 2 | 1 | * | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 |
| Human/civil/women’s rights | 1 | 1 | * | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 |
| Ethics in government | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | * | 1 |
| Inflation | X | X | X | X | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 1 |
| Judiciary | X | X | X | * | 2 | 1 | 1 | * | * | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Moral Values | X | X | X | 2 | 2 | * | 1 | 1 | 1 | * | 1 | * |
| M.E. peace | 2 | 2 | 2 | * | 1 | 1 | * | 1 | * | 1 | * | * |
| FEMA | X | X | X | X | X | * | * | 1 | X | X | * | * |
| Disaster relief | X | X | X | X | X | 1 | 1 | * | * | * | 1 | * |
| Same sex rights | X | X | X | 1 | 1 | * | 2 | * | 1 | * | 1 | * |
| Medical research | X | X | 2 | 2 | 1 | 2 | * | 1 | * | 1 | 1 | * |
| Air Safety | 1 | * | * | X | * | X | * | 1 | X | * | * | * |
| Other** | 3 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 1 | 5 | 6 | 5 | 8 | 8 | 6 | 6 |
| Not sure | 11 | 10 | 12 | 9 | 8 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 10 | 9 | 9 | 8 |
*Less than 0.5%, X = Not mentioned as specific issue
**Including government/politics (nonspecific), housing, Foreign Aid, trade, disability, promoting democracy, race relations, campaign finance, youth and programs for the elderly (not Medicare/Social Security)
Note: The August column refers to the August 24th release
Methodology: This Harris Poll was conducted online among 1,001 adults April 20-23. Figures for age, sex, race/ethnicity, education, region and household income were weighted where necessary to bring them into line with their actual proportions in the population. Propensity score weighting was also used to adjust for respondents’ propensity to be online. In theory, with a sample of this size, one can say with a 95% probability that the overall results have a sampling error of +/-3 percentage points.
Discover more from Blog for Arizona
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
Two prominent Women; Polosi and Rice it is interesting that Rice beats out Polosi.