The latest USA Today/Gallup poll suggests last week’s shake-up at the White House has had little impact — with President George Bush’s and the GOP’s poll numbers continuing to nosedive:
Six months before Republicans try to hold on to control of Congress in the fall elections, a new poll shows President Bush has slid to the lowest approval rating of his presidency, and a majority of voters say they’ll vote for Democrats in November.
A USA TODAY/Gallup Poll taken Friday through Sunday found Bush’s approval rating at 34%, two points under his previous low. He also received the lowest ratings of his presidency on his handling of the economy, energy and foreign affairs. He tied his previous low on Iraq: 32%.
The poll showed Democrats leading 54%-39% among registered voters who were asked which party they would prefer in a congressional race.
The word “catastrophic” comes to mind. And how is the White House officially reacting to it?
Here’s a hint: what’s the name of that river in Egypt again? Read this from the USA Today story:
White House spokesman Scott McClellan said the president is not focused on polls but “on achieving results for the American people.”
A spokesman for the House Republicans’ campaign committee, Carl Forti, said unhappiness with Bush doesn’t doom the GOP’s 29-seat House majority because “President Bush is not on the ballot.”
And if you believe THAT then let me tell you the story about a nice, furry bunny who’ll deliver eggs to your house next Easter…
Forti also noted that the poll showed 59% of respondents said their own representative deserves to be re-elected. However, poll data show that’s the lowest percentage since 1994, when Republicans won control of Congress from the Democrats.
Sarah Feinberg, a spokeswoman for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, said voters are linking Bush’s problems to his GOP colleagues: “The American people want change.”
Since 1950, there have been six times when presidents had Gallup approval ratings below 50% in the spring as their party sought to keep control of Congress. The president’s party lost House seats in all six years, ranging from five in 1968 to 54 in 1994.
A 15-seat switch in November would give the Democrats a majority in the House. A six-seat switch would give Democrats control of the Senate.
The prevailing question is what Bush and the GOP can do to reverse this steady slide — a slide that is part of a trend you now see in most polls. Clearly, the two biggest factors at work are gas prices coupled with widely-publicized news of record oil company profits, added to continued dissatisfaction over the war in Iraq. Bush pooh-poohing calls for a windfall profits tax on oil companies isn’t helping him.
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.