September 8, 2007 7:59 PM
President Bush
The question is not whether the President will be a liability to Republican candidates in the coming election, but how much of a liability he will be. As it now stands, he is likely to be a considerable liability.56% of adults in America have negative feelings about the President (41% very negative). 33% rate him positively. This is about the same rating he received in June of this year. These are the worst ratings the President has received since he came into office.
He has a 31% job approval rating, which other than last month when it was 29%, is his worst score.
An average of 65% disapprove of his handling of foreign policy in general, and Iraq in particular.
| Approve | Disapprove | |
| In general | 31 | 63 |
| On the economy | 38 | 56 |
| Foreign Policy | 27 | 66 |
| Handling Iraq | 22 | 72 |
| [NBC/WSJ 7/07] |
In a series of 10 national surveys taken between 8/1-8/22 the President's approval rating was 33% and disapproval was 62%. [RealClearPolitics.com]
While 68% of Republicans still approve of the job the President is doing, that is down from the first part of the year when 80% rated him positively.
The one bright spot is that, when respondents were asked to record their impression of Bush separately from whether they approved or disapproved of the way he is handling his job, 57% approved of him personally; 35% had the contrary view. [Battleground Poll 2008 7/07]
52% of Americans do not believe that George W. Bush has the "personality and leadership qualities a President should have." And 57% believe that Bush's Presidency has been a failure. [CNN/ORC 8/07]
