President George Bush is continuing to set historic new (low) records in modern polling history — this time, in a just-released poll, setting a record for his lowest job approval rating “ever recorded by Rasmussen Reports.”
For the week ending May 9, just 32% of Americans approved of the way the George W. Bush performed his role as President. That’s down two percentage points from last week and the lowest level ever recorded by Rasmussen Reports. The decline in the President’s ratings come as the Rasmussen Consumer Index also hovers around record lows—72% of Americans believe that economic conditions are getting worse.
Sixty-five percent (65%) disapprove of the President’s Performance, up two points from a week ago.
The weekly figures include 13% who Strongly Approve and 47% who Strongly Disapprove.
Bush is now consistent: his poll numbers are consistently heading south.
The weekly figures also represents a two-point decline from the numbers recorded during the full month of April. During that month, 34% of Americans gave the President their approval. That too was an all-time low, the lowest full-month approval rating ever for the President measured by Rasmussen Reports. For the full month, just 14% Strongly Approved of the President’s performance while 46% Strongly Disapproved.
Prior to this month, the President’s lowest approval rating was 35%, recorded in June, 2007. In two other months, his approval has been as low as 36% (May 2007 and March 2008).
Sometimes it is difficult to keep the ratings in perspective. In February 2005, at the beginning of the President’s second term, the number who Strongly Approved (28%) was very close to the number who Strongly Disapproved (33%). Now, three years later, just 14% Strongly Approve while more than three times as many—46%–Strongly Disapprove.
So he’s helping foster consensus among Americans. He has already carved a place for his name in history books: a Newsweek poll recently found that he is the most unpopular President in modern history.
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.