The Harris Poll® #38, May 12, 2006

President Bush’s Job Approval Rating Reaches New Low of29 Percent Positive, Down Seven Points since April

With just one-quarter of U.S. adults saying the country is headed in the right direction, this measure hits an 11-year low

(Part 2 of 2)

TABLE 12

RATINGS OF DEMOCRATS IN CONGRESS

(Not Sure’s Excluded)

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

Base: All Adults

 

TREND

 

Positive*

Negative**

2006

May

%

23

72

 

March

%

24

70

2005

November

%

25

70

 

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 13

CONGRESS’ OVERALL JOB RATING – BY PARTY ID

(Not Sure’s Excluded)

"How would you rate the overall job the Congress is doing – excellent, pretty good, only fair, or poor?"

Base: All Adults

  

Party ID

Total

Republican

Independent

Democrat

%

%

%

%

Positive

18

29

12

14

Negative

80

70

86

82

*Positive = excellent or pretty good.

**Negative = only fair or poor.

TABLE 14

CONGRESS’ OVERALL JOB RATING – BY POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY

(Not Sure’s Excluded)

"How would you rate the overall job the Congress is doing – excellent, pretty good, only fair, or poor?"

Base: All Adults

  

Political Philosophy

Total

Conservative

Moderate

Liberal

%

%

%

%

Positive

18

23

18

10

Negative

80

76

81

85

*Positive = excellent or pretty good.

**Negative = only fair or poor.

TABLE 15

RATINGS OF REPUBLICANS IN CONGRESS – BY PARTY ID

(Not Sure’s Excluded)

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

Base: All Adults

  

Party ID

Total

Republican

Independent

Democrat

%

%

%

%

Positive

20

44

11

12

Negative

76

53

83

87

*Positive = excellent or pretty good.

**Negative = only fair or poor.

TABLE 16

RATINGS OF REPUBLICANS IN CONGRESS – BY POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY

(Not Sure’s Excluded)

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

Base: All Adults

  

Political Philosophy

Total

Conservative

Moderate

Liberal

%

%

%

%

Positive

20

32

16

9

Negative

76

64

82

89

*Positive = excellent or pretty good.

**Negative = only fair or poor.

TABLE 17

RATINGS OF DEMOCRATS IN CONGRESS – BY PARTY ID

(Not Sure’s Excluded)

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

Base: All Adults

  

Party ID

Total

Republican

Independent

Democrat

%

%

%

%

Positive

23

10

16

40

Negative

72

83

77

58

*Positive = excellent or pretty good.

**Negative = only fair or poor.

TABLE 18

RATINGS OF DEMOCRATS IN CONGRESS – BY POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY

(Not Sure’s Excluded)

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

Base: All Adults

  

Political Philosophy

Total

Conservative

Moderate

Liberal

%

%

%

%

Positive

23

18

26

29

Negative

72

77

71

68

*Positive = excellent or pretty good.

**Negative = only fair or poor.

TABLE 19

MOST IMPORTANT ISSUES FOR GOVERNMENT to address

(Spontaneous, Unprompted Replies)

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

Base: All Adults

‘95

‘96

‘97

‘98

‘99

‘00

‘01

‘02

‘03

‘04

‘05

‘05

‘06

‘06

"06

‘06

‘06

Feb

April

May

Jan

Feb

Aug

Dec

Dec

Jun

Oct

Aug

Nov

Jan

Feb

Mar

April

May

%

%

%

%

%

%

%

%

%

%

%

%

%

%

%

%

%

(The) war

X

X

X

X

X

X

12

18

8

35

41

34

26

27

21

23

28

Immigration

2

2

2

1

*

1

1

1

2

2

3

6

4

5

4

19

16

Gas and oil prices

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

1

1

10

8

2

2

5

3

14

The economy (non-specific)

7

14

8

9

7

5

32

34

25

28

19

13

17

15

15

12

13

Healthcare (not Medicare)

25

16

10

11

12

15

5

10

14

18

11

11

11

20

16

13

8

Iraq / (Saddam Hussein)

*

*

*

*

1

-

-

11

3

9

6

13

7

5

7

7

7

Education

10

14

15

14

21

25

12

11

13

7

8

10

6

8

7

10

5

Taxes

12

11

14

16

12

13

6

5

11

8

5

9

7

6

5

5

5

Employment/jobs

10

9

5

3

4

4

7

8

8

10

3

4

7

5

8

6

5

Foreign policy (non-specific)

2

3

3

5

4

3

2

4

2

3

2

2

3

3

3

3

4

Social security

x

X

6

6

24

16

3

2

4

4

10

4

6

7

7

5

4

Homeland/domestic security/public safety

X

X

X

X

X

X

8

9

3

6

2

2

2

3

4

3

3

National security

X

X

X

X

2

2

6

3

6

5

2

3

2

2

3

2

3

Terrorism

X

X

X

X

X

X

22

17

11

7

7

6

4

6

6

3

3

(Programs for) the poor/ poverty

10

2

3

2

2

3

1

2

3

*

4

5

3

5

4

4

3

Budget/Government spending

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

3

Medicare

X

3

4

5

5

6

1

1

4

3

2

3

3

5

3

3

2

Human/civil/women's rights

1

2

2

1

*

1

1

1

*

1

1

*

1

1

*

1

2

Religion (decline of)

1

*

*

1

*

1

2

1

1

1

*

1

1

*

1

1

2

Inflation

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

1

1

1

1

1

1

2

Homelessness

-

3

4

4

3

3

2

2

1

*

1

1

4

1

1

2

2

Ethics in government

*

*

*

*

*

*

1

1

1

1

1

3

1

1

X

1

2

Environment

1

1

3

2

3

3

1

3

2

1

3

2

1

2

1

1

2

Drugs

3

4

8

6

2

5

2

3

3

*

2

1

2

1

1

2

2

Crime/violence

21

16

19

13

8

10

1

2

3

1

3

2

2

1

1

3

2

Abortion

3

4

2

2

2

6

1

1

1

4

2

1

2

1

2

1

2

Military/defense

1

1

2

2

2

4

4

1

5

3

1

2

4

3

3

2

1

Welfare

16

13

14

8

4

2

1

1

3

*

3

1

2

1

1

2

1

Domestic/social issues (non-specific)

4

4

2

3

2

2

2

2

1

2

2

3

1

*

2

*

1

Bush/president

x

x

x

x

x

X

X

x

x

X

x

1

1

1

1

*

1

Peace/world peace/nuclear arms

1

3

1

3

3

1

2

2

3

*

1

1

2

1

2

1

1

Medical research

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

2

2

1

1

1

2

1

1

1

Middle East peace process between Palestinians and Israel

X

X

X

X

X

X

2

2

2

*

1

*

*

1

1

2

1

Judicial/Legal Issues

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

*

2

1

*

1

1

*

*

Honesty/Integrity/Moral Values

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

2

2

1

*

*

1

1

*

Same sex marriage/rights

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

1

1

1

1

*

*

1

*

School safety

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

2

*

1

1

*

1

*

*

*

Anthrax/Biological attack

-

-

-

-

-

-

1

1

1

X

*

1

*

X

*

*

*

Downsizing government

X

X

X

X

X

1

*

X

X

1

*

1

1

*

1

1

*

Disaster relief/Hurricane Relief

x

x

x

x

x

X

X

x

x

X

x

4

1

1

2

*

*

CIA leak

x

x

x

x

x

X

X

x

x

X

x

1

X

X

*

1

*

FEMA

x

x

x

x

x

X

X

x

x

X

x

1

*

*

X

*

*

Family values (decline of)

2

2

2

1

2

1

*

*

1

1

1

*

*

*

*

*

*

Energy

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

1

1

4

3

3

4

3

3

x

Federal budget surplus/deficit

22

22

20

12

5

4

1

1

4

2

2

7

4

2

3

3

X

Election/Voter reform

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

1

1

*

1

*

1

1

*

*

*

Other1

7

7

8

19

2

19

3

8

8

8

1

1

3

5

4

4

6

Not sure/refused/no issue

7

7

9

12

16

18

11

10

12

9

8

6

6

6

8

4

4

* = Less than 0.5%.

X = Not mentioned as specific issue.

1 Including government/politics (nonspecific), trade, housing, gun control, moral values, Supreme Court, air travel safety, 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 May 5 and 8, 2006 among a nationwide cross section of1,003 adults (aged 18 and over). Figures for age, sex, race, education, and region were weighted where necessary to align them with their actual proportions in the population.

All surveys are subject to several sources of error. These include: sampling error (because only a sample of a population is interviewed); measurement error due to question wording and/or question order, deliberately or unintentionally inaccurate responses, nonresponse (including refusals), interviewer effects (when live interviewers are used) and weighting.

With one exception (sampling error) the magnitude of the errors that result cannot be estimated. There is, therefore, no way to calculate a finite "margin of error" for any survey and the use of these words should be avoided.

With pure probability samples, with 100 percent response rates, it is possible to calculate the probability that the sampling error (but not other sources of error) is not greater than some number. With a pure probability sample of 1,003 adults one could say with a 95 percent probability that the overall results have a sampling error of +/- 3 percentage points. Sampling error for the various sub-sample results is higher and varies. However that does not take other sources of error into account.

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

J27877

QA1, QA2, QA3, QA4, QA5, QA6



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