There is a slew of new polling available this morning, none of which shows an American public particularly happy with the actions of the Bush administration. To begin with, the latest survey from Zogby finds:
President Bush’s job approval rating took a hit in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, dropping to a historic low of 41%, a new Zogby America poll reveals. The same survey found the nation’s forty-third president would lose election contests against all of his predecessors since Jimmy Carter.
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The public rates the performance of all levels of government in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina negatively, with 36% giving the President passing marks on his handling of the crisis—slightly higher than the 32% who give government in general good marks for its handling of the storm that devastated New Orleans and much of the Gulf coast.
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In a sign of just how severe the damage to the President’s standing caused by Katrina is, the Zogby America survey finds that, despite his re-election last fall, President Bush would lose to every modern president since Jimmy Carter, the one-term Democrat who left office amid record unpopularity and a presidency rated, at the time, dismally. He would also lose to his own father, who left office amid an economic recession triggered, in part, by a devastating hurricane.
However, in one of the few bright spots for the President, he would still beat Massachusetts Democrat John Kerry, by a narrow, one-point margin.
Carter actually does better in the head-to-head matchup against Bush than Clinton does, surprisingly. Can you believe that Americans would favor Carter — who has in recent years proved to be an unabashed liberal — over Bush by a 50-42 margin? I wonder what that says about the direction the Democratic Party needs to go in*…
CBS News also finds widespread unhappiness towards President Bush’s handling of the crisis in the Gulf Coast.
President George W. Bush’s overall response to Katrina meets with disapproval today – a dramatic change from the public’s reaction just after the storm hit on August 29th. Last week, in the two days immediately after Katrina made landfall, a majority of Americans said they approved of Bush’s response, although more than a third were not sure. Now, only 38% approve. A majority disapproves.
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Now, just 48% of Americans say Bush has strong qualities of leadership – the lowest number ever for the President in this poll. A year ago, as he was campaigning for re-election, 64% of voters said Bush was a strong leader. And in the weeks after the attacks of September 11th, 2001, 83% of Americans said the President had strong qualities of leadership.
Moreover, just 32% express “a lot� of confidence in the President’s ability to handle a crisis. This is a sharp change from four years ago when, in the weeks after the 9/11 attacks, 66% expressed “a lot� of confidence in Bush’s ability to handle a crisis.
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Despite the fallout from Hurricane Katrina, Bush’s overall approval rating is virtually unchanged from last week. Now, 42% of Americans approve of the job Bush is doing as President, while 52% disapprove.
Throughout his presidency, George W. Bush has seen his approval rating buttressed by his high favorability scores, which have been based on his honesty and leadership abilities. Recent surveys (here and here) have shown that the public is beginning to question Bush’s honesty. Should the public’s confidence in Bush’s ability to lead continue to diminish, as indicated by this CBS News poll, President Bush runs the real risk of bogging down his party in the 2006 midterms.
originally posted to my blog at Basie.org
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