The Harris Poll^® #12, February 8, 2007

President Bush’s Job Performance Continues to be Viewed Negatively

Now that they are in office, Democrats in Congress are viewed much more positively than Republicans

It may be a new year, but 2007 is starting just as 2006 ended for President George W. Bush. Just under one-third (32%) of U.S. adults give the President positive ratings, while two-thirds view his job performance negatively. These numbers are virtually unchanged from November, 2006 when they were 31 percent positive and 67 percent negative. One reason for the President’s low numbers may be that while almost two thirds (64%) of Republicans view his job in a positive light, only about half (52%) of Conservatives give him positive ratings.

While Republican support of the President continues to diminish, we see the positive attitudes toward the direction of the country also decreasing slightly. In November, 31 percent said things in the country were going in the right direction, while 58 percent said things were on the wrong track. Now, 29 percent say things are going in the right direction, while 62 percent say they are on the wrong track.

These are some of the results from the latest Harris Poll of 1,004 U.S. adults surveyed by telephone between February 2 and 5, 2007 by Harris Interactive^®.

This New Year brings with it a new Congress, and for the first time in history, a woman sits in the Speaker’s chair. U.S. Representative Nancy Pelosi begins her service as Speaker of the House in a more positive light than that of Dennis Hastert at the end of his tenure, but not by much. Representative Hastert had a 27 percent positive and 48 percent negative job performance among U.S. adults in September, 2006, compared to Speaker Pelosi’s 38 percent positive job performance and 45 percent negative. Speaker Pelosi’s counterpart in the Senate, Harry Reid, fares even worse. As Minority Leader in September 2006, just under one-quarter (23%) had a positive attitude toward his job performance, while 52 percent had a negative attitude. Five months later, and with "Majority" in his title, his numbers are virtually unchanged – 23 percent positive and 47 percent negative.

Those in the minority do not fare any better. New Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell draws just a 19 percent positive rating and a 42 percent negative one. His House counterpart, John Boehner, has a 23 percent positive and 46 percent negative rating. These numbers are virtually unchanged from September when Harris Interactive asked about then-Majority Leader Boehner, who held a 24 percent positive and a 47 percent negative rating.

These negative attitudes toward specific congressional leaders are surely related to the attitudes toward the institution as a whole, as well as the two parties. Just one-third of adults hold a positive view of the job of Congress, while 62 percent have a negative view. Although this is still low, it is up from September, 2006 when less than one-quarter (24%) had a positive view and 73 percent had a negative view of the job of Congress.

For the Republicans in Congress, attitudes have not changed much – following the election, the numbers were at 24 percent positive and 72 percent negative. Currently, it is 26 percent positive and 69 percent negative. Democrats in Congress, however, have seen their stock go up. In November, over one-third (36%) had a positive view of their job performance and 57 percent had a negative view. Now following the "first 100 hours" and one month of being in control, more adults seem to like what they are seeing, as 41 percent have a positive view of their performance and 52 percent have a negative view.

Attitudes toward the President’s administration have not risen with the dawn of the New Year. Vice President Dick Cheney sees his lowest job performance numbers since the beginning of the administration in 2001 – only 29 percent have a positive view of his job performance, while 67 percent have a negative view. This is the first time that the Vice President’s numbers have gone below 30 percent. In September, 2006, the Vice President’s numbers were 30 percent positive and 64 percent negative. In the past, Condoleezza Rice was the "shining star" of the administration and a majority of adults always gave her positive marks. In September, for example, 55 percent viewed her job performance in a positive light while 42 percent viewed it negatively. For the first time as Secretary of State, her numbers have dropped – 46 percent view her positively while 48 percent view her negatively.

Even the new Secretary of Defense, Robert Gates, does not get a honeymoon. In Secretary Gates’ first appearance on our survey, one-third (32%) have a positive view of his job, while just over half (52%) have a negative view. This is actually slightly worse than the last time Harris Interactive asked about Donald Rumsfeld; in September, 38 percent of adults had a positive view of the job Mr. Rumsfeld was doing and 58 percent had a negative view.

Pessimistic attitudes across the board might be due to the most important issue for the government to address – Iraq. About three in 10 (29%) say "The War" is one of the two most important issues for the government to address. Add to this the additional 10 percent who say Iraq is one of the most important issues, and about two in five adults rate Iraq as a top issue. This is far higher than the 12 percent who mention health care and the nine percent each who mention the economy and terrorism.

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	14	32	28	20	6	46	48
Democrats in Congress	8	33	32	20	7	41	52
President George W. Bush	7	25	22	45	1	32	67
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi	6	31	28	17	17	38	45
Vice President Dick Cheney	6	23	22	45	4	29	67
Secretary of Defense Robert Gates	4	29	35	17	16	32	52
Republicans in Congress	4	23	35	34	5	26	69
Congress	2	31	39	23	5	33	62
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid	2	21	32	15	30	23	47
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell	2	18	30	12	39	19	42
House Minority Leader John Boehner	1	22	34	12	31	23	46

*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	Feb. 2004	April 2004	Nov. 2004	Feb. 2005	April 2005	Nov. 2005	Mar 2006	May 2006	Sept. 2006	Feb. 2007
POSITIVE RATINGS	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%
President George W. Bush	88	52	70	57	51	48	50	48	44	34	36	29	38	32
Vice President Dick Cheney	69	45	55	42	41	36	48	45	37	30	30	**	30	29
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice	**	**	**	**	**	**	**	52	54	52	51	**	55	46

** Not Applicable. The question was not asked

TABLE 3
PRESIDENT BUSH'S OVERALL JOB RATING
Not Sure’s Excluded

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

Base: All adults

	TREND	Positive*	Negative**
	TREND	%	%
2007	February	32	67
2006	November	31	67
	October (10/25)	34	63
	October (10/13)	34	64
	September	38	61
	August (8/24)	34	65
	August (8/11)	34	66
	July	34	65
	June	33	67
	May	29	71
	April	35	63
	March	36	64
	February	40	58
	January	43	56
2005	November	34	65
	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
	August	63	37
	June	70	28
	May	74	25
	April	75	23
	February	79	20
	January	79	19
2001	December	82	17
	November	86	12
	October	88	11
	August	52	43
	June	50	46
	May	59	35
	March	49	38
	February	56	26

*Positive = excellent or pretty good; **Negative = only fair or poor.

TABLE 4
PRESIDENT BUSH'S OVERALL JOB RATING—NOVEMBER 2006
Not Sure’s Excluded

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

Base: All adults

	February, 2007
	%
Excellent/Pretty Good (NET)	32
Excellent	7
Pretty Good	25
Only Fair/Poor (NET)	67
Only Fair	22
Poor	45

TABLE 5
PRESIDENT BUSH'S OVERALL JOB RATING—BY PARTY AND IDEOLOGY
Not Sure’s Excluded

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

Base: All adults

	Total	Party			Ideology
	Total	Republicans	Independents	Democrats	Conservatives	Moderates	Liberals
	%	%	%	%	%	%	%
Positive	32	64	31	11	52	27	17
Negative	67	36	68	89	48	73	82

TABLE 6
RATINGS OF VICE PRESIDENT DICK 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**
	TREND	%	%
2007	February	29	67
2006	September	30	64
	June	31	65
	March	30	67
2005	November	30	65
	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 7
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**
	TREND	%	%
2007	February	46	48
2006	September	55	42
	June	52	43
	March	51	44
2005	November	52	41
	August	57	37
	June	52	41
	April	54	39
	February	52	40

*Positive = excellent or pretty good; **Negative = only fair or poor.

TABLE 8
RATINGS OF SECRETARY OF DEFENSE ROBERT GATES
Not Sure’s Excluded

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

Base: All adults

	TREND	Positive*	Negative**
	TREND	%	%
2007	February	32	52

*Positive = excellent or pretty good; **Negative = only fair or poor.

TABLE 9
LAST RATINGS OF FORMER 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

2006	TREND	Positive*	Negative**
	TREND	%	%
	September	38	58

*Positive = excellent or pretty good; **Negative = only fair or poor.

TABLE 10
RATINGS OF HOUSE SPEAKER NANCY PELOSI
Not Sure's Excluded

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

Base: All adults

	TREND	Positive*	Negative**
	TREND	%	%
2007	February	38	45

*Positive = excellent or pretty good; **Negative = only fair or poor.

TABLE 11
LAST RATING OF FORMER 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**
	TREND	%	%
2006	September	27	48

*Positive = excellent or pretty good; **Negative = only fair or poor.

TABLE 12
RATINGS OF SENATE MAJORITY LEADER HARRY REID
Not Sure's Excluded

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

Base: All adults

	TREND	Positive*	Negative**
	TREND	%	%
2007	February	23	47
2006	September	23	52
	June	19	54
	March	19	53
2005	August	24	47

***Prior to February, 2007, Sen. Reid was the Senate Minority Leader

*Positive = excellent or pretty good; **Negative = only fair or poor

TABLE 13
RATINGS OF SENATE MINORITY LEADER MITCH MCCONNELL
Not Sure's Excluded

"And how would you rate the job Senate Minority LeaderMitch McConnell is doing – excellent, pretty good, only fair or poor?"

Base: All adults

	TREND	Positive*	Negative**
	TREND	%	%
2007	February	19	42

*Positive = excellent or pretty good; **Negative = only fair or poor

TABLE 14
RATINGS OF HOUSE MINORITY LEADER JOHN BOEHNER
Not Sure's Excluded

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

Base: All adults

	TREND	Positive*	Negative**
	TREND	%	%
2007	February	23	46
2006	September***	24	47
	June	22	51
	March	23	50

***Prior to February, 2007, Rep Boehner was the House Majority Leader

*Positive = excellent or pretty good; **Negative = only fair or poor

TABLE 15
CONGRESS’ OVERALL JOB RATING
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

	TREND	Positive*	Negative**
	TREND	%	%
2007	February	33	62
2006	September	24	73
	May	18	80
	February	25	71
	January	25	72

*Positive = excellent or pretty good; **Negative = only fair or poor

TABLE 16
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**
	TREND	%	%
2007	February	26	69
2006	November	24	72
	September	24	71
	June	25	72
	May	20	76
	March	27	68
2005	November	27	69
	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
	June	46	45
	April	49	39
	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 17
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**
	TREND	%	%
2007	February	41	52
2006	November	36	57
	September	29	67
	June	26	70
	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
	June	45	46
	April	47	42
	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 18
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
	TREND	%	%
2007	February	29	62
2006	November	31	58
	October (10/25)	27	63
	October (10/13)	29	62
	September	31	59
	August	26	64
	July	28	61
	June	28	64
	May	24	69
	April	27	65
	March	31	60
	February	32	59
	January	33	54
2005	November	27	68
	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 19
MOST IMPORTANT ISSUES FOR GOVERNMENT to address

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

Spontaneous, unprompted replies

Base: All Adults

	‘96	‘97	‘98	‘99	‘00	‘01	‘02	‘03	‘04	‘05	‘06	‘06	"06	06	06	06	07
	April	May	Jan	Feb	Aug	Dec	Dec	June	Oct	Aug	Feb	June	Aug	Sept	Oct	Nov	Feb
	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%
(The) war	X	X	X	X	X	12	18	8	35	41	27	27	28	22	29	33	29
Healthcare (not Medicare)	16	10	11	12	15	5	10	14	18	11	20	12	12	12	13	15	12
Iraq / (Saddam Hussein)	*	*	*	1	-	-	11	3	9	6	5	8	7	6	8	10	10
The economy (non-specific)	14	8	9	7	5	32	34	25	28	19	15	14	16	13	15	12	9
Terrorism	X	X	X	X	X	22	17	11	7	7	6	4	9	9	7	3	9
Education	14	15	14	21	25	12	11	13	7	8	8	7	8	7	9	7	7
Immigration	2	2	1	*	1	1	1	2	2	3	5	20	10	12	12	11	7
Taxes	11	14	16	12	13	6	5	11	8	5	6	4	4	4	5	5	7
Budget/Government spending	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	5	2	2	3	3	5
Employment/jobs	9	5	3	4	4	7	8	8	10	3	5	7	6	6	6	7	4
Environment	1	3	2	3	3	1	3	2	1	3	2	3	2	3	2	2	4
Foreign policy (non-specific)	3	3	5	4	3	2	4	2	3	2	3	2	2	1	3	2	4
Drugs	4	8	6	2	5	2	3	3	*	2	1	1	2	3	1	1	3
Social security	X	6	6	24	16	3	2	4	4	10	7	5	2	4	5	4	3
Military/defense	1	2	2	2	4	4	1	5	3	1	3	4	3	4	3	3	3
Homeland/domestic security/public safety	X	X	X	X	X	8	9	3	6	2	3	2	4	4	3	2	3
National security	X	X	X	2	2	6	3	6	5	2	2	2	3	3	2	2	2
Crime/violence	16	19	13	8	10	1	2	3	1	3	1	2	3	2	2	2	2
Homelessness	3	4	4	3	3	2	2	1	*	1	1	1	2	1	1	1	2
Human/civil/women's rights	2	2	1	*	1	1	1	*	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	2
Religion (decline of)	*	*	1	*	1	2	1	1	1	*	*	1	1	*	1	1	2
Inflation	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	1	1	2	1	2	1	2	2
Election/Voter reform	X	X	X	X	X	X	1	1	*	1	1	*	1	*	*	*	2
Energy	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	1	1	4	4	4	4	4	2	1	2
AIDS	1	*	1	x	*	*	*	2	x	*	*	*	1	1	*	*	2
(Programs for) the poor/ poverty	2	3	2	2	3	1	2	3	*	4	5	4	3	3	5	3	2
Medicare	3	4	5	5	6	1	1	4	3	2	5	1	1	2	2	3	1
Abortion	4	2	2	2	6	1	1	1	4	2	1	1	1	1	2	1	1
Peace/world peace/nuclear arms	3	1	3	3	1	2	2	3	*	1	1	1	2	2	1	1	1
Gas and oil prices	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	1	1	10	2	8	8	4	4	1	1
Welfare	13	14	8	4	2	1	1	3	*	3	1	1	X	*	1	1	1
Family values (decline of)	2	2	1	2	1	*	*	1	1	1	*	1	1	*	1	1	1
Disaster relief/Hurricane Relief	x	x	x	x	X	X	x	x	X	x	1	1	*	*	*	*	1
Same sex rights	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	1	1	*	2	*	*	1	*	1
Downsizing government	X	X	X	X	1	*	X	X	1	*	*	1	*	*	*	*	1
Medical research	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	2	2	1	2	*	1	*	*	1	1
Domestic/social issues (non-specific)	4	2	3	2	2	2	2	1	2	2	*	3	1	1	*	1	1
Judicial/Legal Issues	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	*	2	1	1	*	1	*	1	1
Honesty/Integrity/Moral Values	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	2	2	*	1	1	*	1	*	1
Ethics in government	*	*	*	*	*	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	2	*
Middle East peace process between Palestinians and Israel	X	X	X	X	X	2	2	2	*	1	1	*	1	1	*	1	*
FEMA	x	x	x	x	X	X	x	x	X	x	*	*	1	X	X	x	*
Bush/president	x	x	x	x	X	X	x	x	X	x	1	X	*	1	1	x	*
Air Travel Safety	-	-	-	-	-	1	*	*	X	*	X	*	1	1	X	*	*
School safety	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	2	*	1	1	1	1	1	*	*	*
North Korea	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	*	X	*	*	X
Other¹	7	8	19	2	19	3	8	8	8	1	5	6	5	4	8	8	6
Not sure/refused/no issue	7	9	12	16	18	11	10	12	9	8	6	6	6	6	10	9	9

* = Less than 0.5%, X = Not mentioned as specific issue

^{1 Including government/politics (nonspecific), housing, Foreign Aid,
trade, disability, promoting democracy, race relations, campaign finance, youth
and programs for the elderly (not Medicare/Social Security)
The August column refers to the August 24^th release

Methodology

The Harris Poll^® was conducted by telephone
within the United States between February 2 and 5, 2007 among a nationwide cross
section of 1,004 adults (aged 18 and over). Figures for age, sex,
race/ethnicity, education, region, number of adults in the household, size of
place (urbanicity) and number of phone lines in the household were weighted
where necessary to bring them into line 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 1,004, one could say with a ninety-five percent
probability that the overall results would have a sampling error of +/-3
percentage points. 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.

J30275
QA1, QA2, QA3}

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