How low are President George Bush’s and Congress’ poll numbers? Let’s just say they’re down so low that they may have to soon call a plumbing company because the numbers are going down there:
President Bush’s approval ratings, as tracked by Harris Interactive, fell to the second-lowest of his presidency, according to a new poll.
According to the telephone poll, conducted between Nov. 17 and Nov. 21, 31% of U.S. adults called Mr. Bush’s job performance “excellent” or “good” — down from 34% who gave a positive assessment in a late-October poll; 67% said his performance is only “fair” or “poor,” up from 63% in the previous survey. The president’s lowest approval rating in a Harris poll was 29% in May 2006.
Meanwhile, the Democrats shouldn’t be smiling. Their numbers have gone up but they shouldn’t bet the House on it:
Despite recent changes in Congress, Republicans and Democrats continued to receive low marks. Thirty-six percent of respondents said Democrats are doing an “excellent” or “good” job, better than the 29% in September. Democrats’ highest positive rating was 68% in October 2001, a month after the 9/11 attacks.
And the Republicans’ numbers? They reflect what the GOP decided to do in the wake of the elections in terms of its Congressional leadership: no change.
Meanwhile, Republicans’ approval rating remained unchanged from September at 24%, and also well below their October 2001 high of 67%.
Bottom line: Bush is not regaining popularity. The GOP has done nothing to change or enhance its sagging image so they’re stagnant. And the Democrats are like a new employee who’s being watched for his new job review (all the more important for Democrats to get that duct tape for Charles Rangel).
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.