Two-Thirds of Americans Disapprove of President's Job Performance

Business Wire, Sept 13, 2007

Three-quarters of Americans Disapprove of Congress' Job Performance

ROCHESTER, N.Y. -- Six years after his record high approval rating, President George W. Bush's ratings remain at the bottom. This month, just three in ten Americans (31%) give his job performance positive marks while two-thirds (67%) give his job negative ratings. In fact, 42 percent of Americans find his performance to be poor, the lowest of the ratings. This is, however, better than July when just one-quarter (26%) gave his job positive ratings and 73 percent gave it negative ratings.

These are some of the results from the latest Harris Poll of 1,000 U.S. adults surveyed by telephone between September 7 and 10, 2007 by Harris Interactive[R].

Almost two-thirds (63%) believe that things in the country are going off on the wrong track while just one-quarter (24%) believe things are going in the right direction. Again, this is slightly up from mid summer. In July, 19 percent believed things were going in the right direction, while seven in ten (70%) believed things in the country were going off on the wrong track.

Opinions on Congress overall, as well as the two parties, are also low. In July, Democrats in Congress were on top as 31 percent viewed their job in a positive manner while almost two-thirds (64%) viewed it negatively. Republicans were viewed even worse as just one in five (21%) U.S. adults said their job performance was a positive one while three-quarters (76%) said it was negative. One-quarter of adults (24%) viewed the job performance of the overall institution of Congress in a positive light while 72 percent said it was negative. This month, they are all concentrated together. Just under one-quarter (22%) view both Congress and Republicans in Congress in a positive manner, while 24 percent view the job Democrats in Congress are doing positively.

Looking at Issues

Looking at the most important issue for the government to address, almost three in ten (29%) cite the War, while 11 percent say Iraq. With the roller coaster ride that Wall Street has been on recently, it is not surprising that the economy has risen as an issue. This month, 16 percent of Americans say it is one of the two most important issues for the government to address compared to 10 percent who said so in July. The same number (16%) say health care is one of the most important issues to address, followed by 13 percent say immigration.

So What?

Both the President and Congress are definitely not winning any friends among the American public. At least two-thirds of people have negative things to say about their job performance and this is a number that has been holding steady for some time now. The question becomes, is this the floor or can these numbers - across the board - go any lower?

TABLE 1

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

[TABLE OMITTED]

*Positive = excellent or pretty good. **Negative = only fair or poor.

TABLE 2

CONGRESS' OVERALL JOB RATING

Not Sure's Excluded

"How would you rate the overall job the Congress is doing - excellent, pretty good, only fair, or poor?"

Base: All adults

                    TREND      Positive*      Negative**








                        %              %








2007            September             22              74








                     July             24              72








         April             27             69








      February             33             62








2006            September             24              73








                      May             18              80








      February             25             71








       January             25             72

*Positive = excellent or pretty good.

**Negative = only fair or poor.

TABLE 3

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

[TABLE OMITTED]

*Positive = excellent or pretty good.

**Negative = only fair or poor.

TABLE 4

RATINGS OF DEMOCRATS IN CONGRESS

Not Sure's Excluded

"And how would you rate the job Democrats in Congress are doing - excellent, pretty good, only fair or poor?"

Base: All adults

[TABLE OMITTED]

*Positive = excellent or pretty good.

**Negative = only fair or poor.

TABLE 5

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

[TABLE OMITTED]

TABLE 6

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

[TABLE OMITTED]

* = Less than 0.5%, X = Not mentioned as specific issue

1 Including government/politics (nonspecific), disaster/Hurricane relief, Foreign Aid, trade, disability, promoting democracy, election/voter reform , Supreme Court, youth and FEMA