Bush Standing is Static

President Bush cannot buy a break. An initiative in which he invested a lot of capital, immigration legislation, may well now be off the table until 2009. His Administration, including many on his current or  former White House staff, are being investigated by a variety of Congressional Committees. He is in the middle of a major confrontation with the Senate and House Judiciary Committees on certain claims of Executive privilege.

The last time President Bush had an approval rating of over 40% in a major public survey was 12/11/06, when the LATimes/Bloomberg poll had his approval at 40% and his disapproval at 56%. In the most recent LATimes/Bloomberg survey, taken in early June, his approval rating was 34%.

In 6 surveys taken between July 7th and July 18th, the President had an average approval rating of 32% and a disapproval rating of 63%. [Real Clear Politics]

Compared to the low points of other 2-term Presidents in the last 50 years, at this point in their Administrations, Bush continues to reside in the cellar.



In the 2nd week of June, the NBC/WSJ found that only 32% of Americans felt even somewhat favorable toward the President. More recently, in a mid-July Gallup survey, 37% gave the President a favorable nod.

There has been little or no improvement in the ratings of his job performance on specific issues, such as Iraq, immigration, the economy, and the campaign against terrorism.

64% of Americans believed that the President should not veto the stem cell research bill, but he did anyway. [Gallup 6/07]

To date, Bush has only issued 3 vetoes. This is far fewer than any modern President, but he still has 18 months to go.

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The Vice President

Vice President Cheney marches to his own drummer. He clearly takes positions and speaks out with absolutely no concern about how the media, most of the public, or even the Congress may react. Could it have anything to do with the fact that he is the only Vice President, at least going back to 1952, who did not have the potential for or any expectation that he might run for President in his own right?

Only 30% approve of the job that Cheney is doing, and the same number have a favorable opinion of him. These are both low points for Cheney. At his high point, in early 2002, 68% approved of the job he was doing, and 67% felt favorably toward him. [Gallup 1/02, 7/07]

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