The Harris Poll^® #66, August 24, 2005

Approval Ratings for President and Congressional Leaders Continue to Drop, According to Latest Harris Poll

The war jumps to the top of the list as the most important issue for the government to address

President Bush’s job approval ratings are at their lowest point of his presidency as only 40 percent of U.S. adults have a favorable opinion of his job performance, while 58 percent have a negative opinion. This is a decline from just two months ago in June when the president’s ratings were 45 percent positive and 55 percent negative. Much of this decline can be tied to the public’s opinion on important issues. The war has climbed to the top of the most important issues list and the economy is now the second most important issue.

These are some of the results of a new Harris Poll of 1,217 U.S. adults surveyed by telephone by Harris Interactive^® between August 9 and 16, 2005.

Ratings of Other Cabinet Members

The Harris Poll^® also examined the ratings of others in the Bush administration and with one exception; their ratings have also dropped in the past two months. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is the only cabinet member who has seen a rise in her ratings. She is now at 57 percent positive and 37 percent negative, a rise from June when she was at 52 percent positive and 41 percent negative. Her ratings clearly top those of the political figures measured.

Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld has a 40 percent positive, 58 percent negative rating while Vice President Dick Cheney has a 35 percent positive, 60 percent negative rating.

Congress and Congressional Leaders

Looking at the parties in Congress, both Republicans and Democrats see drops in their ratings, with the Republicans taking the larger fall. Slightly under one-third (31%) of adults give a positive rating to Democrats in Congress and 65 percent give them a negative rating, down from their 33 percent positive, 61 percent negative ratings in June. Currently, Republicans fare only slightly better with a 32 percent positive and a 64 percent negative rating, down from a 37 percent positive and a 58 percent negative rating in June.

In looking at the ratings of individual leaders in Congress, they hold pretty steady from June. Both Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist and House Majority Leader Tom DeLay have positive ratings of 28 percent, but more than half of adults (54%) give a negative rating to DeLay as compared to the 49 percent negative rating for Frist. The Speaker of the House, Dennis Hastert, has a 26 percent positive rating and 46 percent negative rating, and Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid is at 24 percent positive and 47 percent negative.

Right Direction or Wrong Track

As the attitudes toward the president, his cabinet and Congress continue to decline, Americans are also less satisfied with the way things are going in the country now as compared to in June. A majority (59%) of adults say things in the country have gotten pretty seriously off on the wrong track and 37 percent believe things are moving in the right direction. In June, those numbers were 38 percent who said things were moving in the right direction and 55 percent who said things had headed off on the wrong track.

The War is the Most Important Issue

The main reason why these percentages may be as low as they are probably has to do with the most important issues Americans want to see addressed. The war has taken a large jump as 41 percent say that it is the most important issue for the government to address, up from 24 percent in June. Following the war, the economy remains near the top of the list as 19 percent believe it is the most important issue. We also see that the rising gas prices has moved to the top five issues of importance as 10 percent of adults think it is the most important issue for the government to address.

The fact that neither the war nor the economy may be perceived as going well and people are constantly being reminded of the gas prices every time they fill their tanks has perhaps left the public looking for someone to blame. Right now, it looks like they may be placing that blame on the president, members of his administration and Congress.

TABLE 1

CURRENT RATINGS OF PRESIDENT, SENIOR CABINET MEMBERS AND PARTIES IN CONGRESS

"How would you rate the job (READ ITEM) are/is doing – excellent, pretty good, only fair, or poor?"

Base: All Adults

	Excellent	Pretty Good	Only Fair	Poor	Not Sure	Positive*	Negative**
	%	%	%	%	%	%	%
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice	21	36	22	15	6	57	37
President George W. Bush	13	27	24	34	2	40	58
Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld	12	27	27	30	2	40	58
Vice President Dick Cheney	8	26	26	34	5	35	60
Democrats in Congress	5	26	40	25	4	31	65
Republicans in Congress	4	29	34	31	3	32	64
Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid	4	20	30	16	29	24	47
Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist	3	24	34	16	23	28	49
House Speaker Dennis Hastert	3	23	33	13	28	26	46
House Majority Leader Tom DeLay	3	24	33	21	18	28	54

*Positive = excellent or pretty good.

**Negative = only fair or poor

TABLE 2
POSITIVE RATINGS TRENDS SINCE 9/11/01: SUMMARY

Base: All Adults

POSITIVE RATINGS		Soon After 9/11	Feb. 2003	April 2003	Aug. 2003	Dec. 2003	Feb. 2004	April 2004	June 2004	Sept. 2004	Oct. 2004	Nov. 2004	Feb. 2005	April 2005	June 2005	Now
President George W. Bush	%	88	52	70	57	50	51	48	50	45	51	50	48	44	45	40
Vice President Dick Cheney	%	69	45	55	42	42	41	36	42	40	47	48	45	37	38	35
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice	%	**	**	**	**	**	**	**	**	**	**	**	52	54	52	57
Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld	%	78	56	71	55	57	50	45	47	43	46	47	42	42	42	40

** N/A

TABLE 3
PRESIDENT BUSH'S OVERALL JOB RATING

(Not Sure’s Excluded)

"How would you rate the job President George W. Bush isdoing as president – excellent, pretty good, only fair, or poor?"

Base: All Adults

	TREND		Positive*	Negative**
2005	August	%	40	58
	June	%	45	55
	April	%	44	56
	February	%	48	51
2004	November	%	50	49
	October	%	51	49
	September	%	45	54
	August	%	48	51
	June	%	50	49
	April	%	48	51
	February	%	51	48
2003	December	%	50	49
	October	%	59	40
	August	%	57	41
	June	%	61	36
	April	%	70	29
	February	%	52	46
2002	December	%	64	35
	November	%	65	33
	October	%	64	35
	September	%	68	30
	August	%	63	37
	July	%	62	37
	June	%	70	28
	May	%	74	25
	April	%	75	23
	March	%	77	22
	February	%	79	20
	January	%	79	19
2001	December	%	82	17
	November	%	86	12
	October	%	88	11
	August	%	52	43
	July	%	56	39
	June	%	50	46
	May	%	59	35
	March	%	49	38
	February	%	56	26

*Positive = excellent or pretty good.

**Negative = only fair or poor.

TABLE 4
RATINGS OF VICE PRESIDENT CHENEY

(Not Sure's Excluded)

"And how would you rate the job Vice President Cheney isdoing – excellent, pretty good, only fair or poor?"

Base: All Adults

	TREND		Positive*	Negative**
2005	August	%	35	60
	June	%	38	56
	April	%	37	60
	February	%	45	52
2004	November	%	48	50
	October	%	47	51
	September	%	40	54
	August	%	40	54
	June	%	42	49
	April	%	36	52
	February	%	41	48
2003	December	%	42	47
	October	%	42	44
	August	%	42	45
	June	%	49	40
	April	%	55	36
	February	%	45	44
2002	December	%	50	37
	November	%	52	39
	October	%	54	37
	September	%	52	37
	August	%	45	43
	July	%	46	41
	June	%	55	34
	May	%	55	33
	April	%	55	31
	March	%	59	29
	February	%	57	31
	January	%	55	31
2001	October	%	69	20
	July	%	39	52

*Positive = excellent or pretty good.

**Negative = only fair or poor.

TABLE 5
RATINGS OF SECRETARY OF STATE CONDOLEEZZA RICE

(Not Sure's Excluded)

"And how would you rate the job Secretary of StateCondoleezza Rice is doing – excellent, pretty good, only fair or poor?"

Base: All Adults

	TREND		Positive*	Negative**
2005	August	%	57	37
	June	%	52	41
	April	%	54	39
	February	%	52	40

*Positive = excellent or pretty good.

**Negative = only fair or poor.

TABLE 6
RATINGS OF SECRETARY OF DEFENSE DONALD RUMSFELD

(Not Sure’s Excluded)

"And how would you rate the job Secretary of DefenseDonald Rumsfeld is doing – excellent, pretty good, only fair or poor?"

Base: All Adults

	TREND		Positive*	Negative**
2005	August	%	40	58
	June	%	42	53
	April	%	42	56
	February	%	42	56
2004	November	%	47	50
	October	%	46	50
	September	%	43	50
	August	%	45	49
	June	%	47	47
	April	%	45	47
	February	%	50	43
2003	December	%	57	38
	October	%	47	44
	August	%	55	36
	June	%	60	32
	April	%	71	22
	February	%	56	35
2002	December	%	59	30
	November	%	59	30
	October	%	60	30
	September	%	61	27
	August	%	60	29
	July	%	56	33
	June	%	65	24
	May	%	67	22
	April	%	70	18
	March	%	71	18
	February	%	70	17
	January	%	77	16
2001	December	%	75	14
	October	%	78	12

*Positive = excellent or pretty good.

**Negative = only fair or poor.

TABLE 7
RATINGS OF HOUSE SPEAKER DENNIS HASTERT

(Not Sure's Excluded)

"And how would you rate the job House Speaker DennisHastert is doing – excellent, pretty good, only fair or poor?"

Base: All Adults

	TREND		Positive*	Negative**
2005	August	%	26	46
	June	%	28	44
	April	%	30	50
2004	September	%	29	33
	August	%	29	33
	June	%	29	32
	April	%	25	35
	February	%	26	35
2003	December	%	24	30
	October	%	29	35
	August	%	29	36
	June	%	34	31
	April	%	41	29
	February	%	33	34
2002	December	%	26	33
	November	%	30	31
	October	%	30	29
	September	%	35	29
	August	%	29	35
	July	%	28	36
	June	%	34	31
	May	%	33	25
	April	%	32	26
	March	%	33	25
	February	%	37	25
	January	%	40	24
2001	October (high)	%	52	16
	August (low)	%	27	29
2000	August (high)	%	29	28
	July (low)	%	23	31
1999	October (low)	%	25	34
	April (high)	%	36	39

*Positive = excellent or pretty good.

**Negative = only fair or poor.

TABLE 8
RATINGS OF SENATE MAJORITY LEADER BILL FRIST

(Not Sure's Excluded)

"And how would you rate the job Senate Majority LeaderBill Frist is doing – excellent, pretty good, only fair or poor?"

Base: All Adults

		TREND				Positive*		Negative**
2005		August		%		28		49
		June		%		28		47
		April		%		32		51
2004		September		%		27		40
		August		%		28		38
		June		%		30		36
		April		%		26		36
	February		%		31		36
2003	December		%		27		38
	October		%		29		34
	August		%		32		35
	June		%		38		32
	April		%		39		29
	February		%		37		30

*Positive = excellent or pretty good.

**Negative = only fair or poor

TABLE 9
RATINGS OF HOUSE MAJORITY LEADER TOM DELAY

(Not Sure's Excluded)

"And how would you rate the job House Majority Leader TomDeLay is doing – excellent, pretty good, only fair or poor?"

Base: All Adults

	TREND		Positive*	Negative**
2005	August	%	28	54
	June	%	28	55

*Positive = excellent or pretty good.

**Negative = only fair or poor.

TABLE 10
RATINGS OF REPUBLICANS IN CONGRESS

(Not Sure’s Excluded)

"And how would you rate the job Republicans in Congressare doing – excellent, pretty good, only fair or poor?"

Base: All Adults

	TREND		Positive*	Negative**
2005	August	%	32	64
	June	%	37	58
	April	%	36	61
2004	September	%	38	56
	August	%	40	54
	June	%	39	53
	April	%	35	55
	February	%	40	52
2003	December	%	37	51
	October	%	40	50
	August	%	41	51
	June	%	45	47
	April	%	52	41
	February	%	43	49
2002	December	%	47	47
	November	%	47	45
	October	%	46	45
	September	%	47	42
	August	%	41	49
	July	%	39	52
	June	%	46	45
	May	%	48	44
	April	%	49	39
	March	%	50	41
	February	%	50	40
	January	%	58	34
2001	October (high)	%	67	24
	August (low)	%	37	52
2000	May (low)	%	33	60
	February (high)	%	38	55
1999	October (low)	%	32	58
	September (high)	%	39	55
1998	June (low)	%	31	62
	February (high)	%	44	53
1997	June (low)	%	31	67
	February (high)	%	38	58
1996	May (low)	%	29	69
	January (high)	%	33	66
1995	November (low)	%	35	63
	April (high)	%	42	56

*Positive = excellent or pretty good.

**Negative = only fair or poor.

TABLE 11
RATINGS OF DEMOCRATS IN CONGRESS

(Not Sure’s Excluded)

"And how would you rate the job Democrats in Congress aredoing – excellent, pretty good, only fair or poor?"

Base: All Adults

	TREND		Positive*	Negative**
2005	August	%	31	65
	June	%	33	61
	April	%	34	64
2004	September	%	34	60
	August	%	35	58
	June	%	31	59
	April	%	32	57
	February	%	33	58
2003	December	%	28	61
	October	%	34	56
	August	%	30	60
	June	%	41	51
	April	%	39	52
	February	%	38	54
2002	December	%	36	55
	November	%	40	52
	October	%	40	52
	September	%	42	49
	August`	%	38	54
	July	%	41	49
	June	%	45	46
	May	%	45	45
	April	%	47	42
	March	%	48	43
	February	%	49	41
	January	%	52	40
2001	October (high)	%	68	24
	May (low)	%	40	51
2000	September (high)	%	48	44
	June (low)	%	38	52
1999	October (low)	%	42	50
	January (high)	%	50	47
1998	September (high)	%	49	47
	June (low)	%	41	53
1997	June (low)	%	36	60
	February (high)	%	43	54
1996	May (high)	%	36	62
	January (low)	%	31	68
1995	November (high)	%	34	64
	July (low)	%	30	66
1994	December	%	28	70

*Positive = excellent or pretty good.

**Negative = only fair or poor.

TABLE 12
RIGHT DIRECTION OR WRONG TRACK

(No Opinion’s, Not Sure’s and Decline to Answer’sExcluded)

"Generally speaking, would you say things in the countryare going in the right direction or have they pretty seriously gotten off on thewrong track?"

Base: All Adults

	TREND		Right Direction	Wrong Track
2005	August	%	37	59
	June	%	38	55
	January	%	46	48
2004	September	%	38	57
	June	%	35	59
2003	December	%	35	57
	June	%	44	51
2002	December	%	36	57
	June	%	46	48
2001	December	%	65	32
	June	%	43	52
	January	%	46	39
2000	October	%	50	41
	June	%	40	51
	January	%	50	38
1999	June	%	37	55
	March	%	47	45
1998	December	%	43	51
	June	%	48	44
1997	December	%	39	56
	April	%	36	55
1996	December	%	38	50
	June	%	29	64
1995	December	%	26	62
	June	%	24	65
1994	December	%	29	63
	June	%	28	65

TABLE 13
MOST IMPORTANT ISSUES FOR GOVERNMENT to address

(Spontaneous, Unprompted Replies)

"What do you think are the two most importantissues for the government to address?"

Base: All Adults

	‘94	‘95	‘96	‘97	‘98	‘99	‘00	‘01	‘02	‘03	‘04	‘04	‘04	‘05	‘05	‘05	‘05
	Feb	Feb	April	May	Jan	Feb	Aug	Dec	Dec	Jun	Feb	Aug	Oct	Feb	April	Jun	Aug
	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%
(The) war	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	12	18	8	13	24	35	30	23	24	41
The economy (non-specific)	12	7	14	8	9	7	5	32	34	25	31	32	28	11	13	18	19
Healthcare (not Medicare)	45	25	16	10	11	12	15	5	10	14	16	17	18	14	14	10	11
Gas and oil prices	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	1	*	*	1	1	9	6	10
Social security	x	x	X	6	6	24	16	3	2	4	2	5	4	37	31	19	10
Education	6	10	14	15	14	21	25	12	11	13	11	9	7	7	9	7	8
Terrorism	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	22	17	11	4	11	7	4	4	6	7
Iraq / (Saddam Hussein)	*	*	*	*	*	1	-	-	11	3	6	6	9	11	6	7	6
Taxes	6	12	11	14	16	12	13	6	5	11	5	4	8	5	6	5	5
Energy	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	1	*	1	1	1	1	1	4
(Programs for) the poor/ poverty	8	10	2	3	2	2	3	1	2	3	2	1	*	2	2	3	4
Employment/jobs	14	10	9	5	3	4	4	7	8	8	16	10	10	6	6	5	3
Immigration	*	2	2	2	1	*	1	1	1	2	1	1	2	2	4	4	3
Welfare	7	16	13	14	8	4	2	1	1	3	2	1	*	1	2	1	3
Environment	1	1	1	3	2	3	3	1	3	2	4	2	1	1	1	2	3
Crime/violence	36	21	16	19	13	8	10	1	2	3	3	1	1	*	2	2	3
Abortion	3	3	4	2	2	2	6	1	1	1	3	3	4	2	2	4	2
National security	X	X	X	X	X	2	2	6	3	6	4	6	5	4	4	3	2
Federal budget surplus/deficit	8	22	22	20	12	5	4	1	1	4	5	2	2	10	6	4	2
Homeland/domestic security/public safety	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	8	9	3	8	5	6	3	3	3	2
Domestic/social issues (non-specific)	4	4	4	2	3	2	2	2	2	1	4	2	2	2	3	3	2
Judicial/Legal Issues	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	*	*	*	*	2
Drugs	6	3	4	8	6	2	5	2	3	3	3	2	*	*	*	*	2
Honesty/Integrity/Moral Values	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	2	1	1	*	2
Medicare	X	X	3	4	5	5	6	1	1	4	2	3	3	3	3	2	2
Foreign policy (non-specific)	4	2	3	3	5	4	3	2	4	2	6	2	3	3	3	2	2
Military/defense	2	1	1	2	2	2	4	4	1	5	5	4	3	3	1	2	1
Inflation	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	1
Same sex marriage/rights	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	1	2	1	1	2	*	1
Peace/world peace/nuclear arms	1	1	3	1	3	3	1	2	2	3	1	2	*	1	1	2	1
Middle East peace process between Palestinians and Israel	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	2	2	2	*	1	*	*	*	*	1
Ethics in government	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	1	1	1	1	*	1	*	-	1	1
Human/civil/women's rights	1	1	2	2	1	*	1	1	1	*	*	*	1	1	1	1	1
Homelessness	-	-	3	4	4	3	3	2	2	1	1	2	*	1	1	1	1
Family values (decline of)	*	2	2	2	1	2	1	*	*	1	2	1	1	-	*	1	1
Medical research	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	2	*	1	2	1	*	1	1
School safety	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	2	*	2	*	-	*	1	1
Election/Voter reform	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	1	1	1	2	*	X	*	*	1
Religion (decline of)	*	1	*	*	1	*	1	2	1	1	*	*	1	*	*	1	*
Air travel safety	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	*	*	*	-	X	-	-	1	*
Anthrax/Biological attack	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	1	1	*	1	X	-	*	1	*
Race relations	X	X	X	X	2	*	1	1	*	*	*	*	X	*	*	1	*
Downsizing government	X	X	X	X	X	X	1	*	X	X	1	*	1	*	1	1	*
Prescription drug prices	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	*	*
AIDS	2	1	1	*	1	-	*	*	*	2	1	*	X	*	*	2	*
Other1	8	7	7	8	19	2	19	3	8	8	3	5	8	21	4	2	1
Not sure/refused/no issue	8	7	7	9	12	16	18	11	10	12	15	12	9	7	1	14	8

* = Less than 0.5%.

X = Not mentioned as specific issue.

^{1 Including government/politics (nonspecific), housing, gun control,
issues involving children, corporate scandals/fraud, and programs for the
elderly (not Medicare/Social Security)

Methodology

The Harris Poll^® was conducted by telephone within the United
States between August 9 and 16, 2005 among a nationwide cross section of 1,217
adults (aged 18 and over). Figures for age, sex, race, education, number
of adults, number of voice/telephone lines in the household, region and size of
place were weighted where necessary to align them with their actual proportions
in the population.
In theory, with a probability sample of this size, one can say with 95
percent certainty that the results have a sampling error of plus or minus 3
percentage points of what they would be if the entire U.S. adult population had
been polled with complete accuracy. Unfortunately, there are several other
possible sources of error in all polls or surveys that are probably more serious
than theoretical calculations of sampling error. They include refusals to be
interviewed (nonresponse), question wording and question order, interviewer
bias, weighting by demographic control data and screening (e.g., for likely
voters). It is impossible to quantify the errors that may result from these
factors.

These statements conform to the principles of disclosure of the National
Council on Public Polls.

J25035
Q410, Q417, Q426, Q430}

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