The Harris Poll^® #36, April 26, 2007

President Bush’s Job Performance at Lowest Ever in Harris Poll

Majorities View All U.S. Political Figures in a Negative Light

President George W. Bush’s job performance is currently viewed positively by only 28 percent of U.S. adults, the lowest since he took office. Seven in ten adults view his job performance in a negative light, including almost half (48%) who say his job performance is poor. Since February, the President has dropped from one-third (32%) who viewed his job positively and 67 percent who gave him negative marks.

Vice President Dick Cheney is also at his lowest job approval – just one-quarter of adults view him in a positive light while over two-thirds (68%) view his job performance negatively. This is down from February, which was his previous low, when 29 percent saw his job performance positively and 67 percent saw it in a negative way.

These are some of the results from the latest Harris Poll of 1,001 U.S. adults surveyed by telephone between April 20 and 23, 2007 by Harris Interactive^®.

Negative Feelings Not Limited Exclusively Toward President Bush

For the first time, all of the political figures and institutions in our survey have a negative job performance rating. This includes Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice who, for the first time since assuming this office, is viewed negatively by half of adults. In February, 46 percent of adults viewed her positively and 48 percent negatively. However, she still has the highest positive job performance rating at 45 percent.

Secretary of Defense Robert Gates has also trended down in job performance. In February, one-third of adults (32%) gave him positive job performance ratings while half (52%) gave him negative ratings. Now that his has been on the job a little longer, only 29 percent view his job performance in a positive light while 55 percent view it negatively.

The Democratic leaders may have gotten past their first 100 days, but the people are not giving the leaders of the House and the Senate glowing reviews either. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has fallen from a 38 percent positive rating in February to 30 percent positive now. Well over half (56%) of adults currently view her job performance in a negative light, compared to just 45 percent who did so in February. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has also dropped. In February, 23 percent viewed him positively while 47 percent viewed his job performance negatively. Currently, over half (52%) see his job performance in a negative light while just 22 percent gives it positive ratings.

Opinions on Congress overall, as well as the two parties, have also dropped considerably in the past two months. Just over one-quarter (27%) view Congress’ job performance positively while 69 percent view the job they are doing negatively. This is down from one-third who viewed it positively in February and 62 percent who viewed it negatively.

Sometimes, moving from the majority to the minority can give a party a breath of fresh life as they adjust to their new status. Republicans have yet to see this as they drop in their job performance ratings. Just one in five (22%) of adults think Republicans are doing a good job while three-quarters (74%) look at their job performance negatively. This is a drop from February when 26 percent of adults saw Republicans’ job performance as positive and 69 percent who looked at it in a negative light. Democrats saw a small upswing in their numbers in February when 41 percent saw their job performance in a positive light and just half (52%) viewed it negatively. Now that they have actually been in office for a few months, the newness may have worn off as just one-third (35%) of adults look at the job performance of Democrats in Congress in a positive way while 58 percent view their performance negatively.

The Sense Being Off Track is Not Limited to Political Figures

Just one quarter (26%) of U.S. adults think things in the country are going in the right direction while two-thirds (69%) think things have gotten off on the wrong track. Again, this is worse than in February when 29 percent of adults saw things going in the right direction while 62 percent said things were going off on the wrong track. Overall this survey suggests not a swing from Republicans to Democrats, but rather a mood of "a plague on all your houses".

U.S. Adults Have Important Public Policy Issues

With regard to the most important issues, yet again, the war tops the list as three in ten (30%) say that it is one of the two most important issues for the government to address. As a distant second is health care (15%) and then Iraq (13%), the economy (10%) and immigration and education (each at 9%). As this survey was conducted the weekend after the shootings at Virginia Tech, it is not surprising to see a rise in certain numbers. For example, crime/violence rose from two percent thinking it was an important issue in February to 6 percent this month. The issue of school safety also rose from less than half a percent in February to two percent this month as did the issue of the Second Amendment.

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	12	33	29	21	6	45	50
President George W. Bush	7	22	22	48	2	28	70
Democrats in Congress	5	29	34	24	7	35	58
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi	5	25	33	23	14	30	56
Vice President Dick Cheney	5	20	25	44	7	25	68
Defense Secretary Robert Gates	4	25	36	19	16	29	55
Congress	3	24	43	27	4	27	69
Republicans in Congress	3	20	41	33	4	22	74
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid	2	19	35	17	26	22	52

*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	Feb. 2004	April 2004	Nov. 2004	Feb. 2005	April 2005	Nov. 2005	Mar 2006	May 2006	Sept. 2006	Feb. 2007	April 2007
POSITIVE RATINGS	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%
President George W. Bush	88	52	70	51	48	50	48	44	34	36	29	38	32	28
Vice President Dick Cheney	69	45	55	41	36	48	45	37	30	30	**	30	29	25
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice	**	**	**	**	**	**	52	54	52	51	**	55	46	45

** 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	April	28	70
	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
	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

RATINGS OF VICE PRESIDENT DICK CHENEY

Not Sure's Excluded

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

Base: All adults

	TREND	Positive*	Negative**
	TREND	%	%
2007	April	25	68
	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
	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
	June	55	34
	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 State Condoleezza Rice is doing – excellent, pretty good, only fair or poor?"

Base: All adults

	TREND	Positive*	Negative**
	TREND	%	%
2007	April	45	50
	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 6

RATINGS OF SECRETARY OF DEFENSE ROBERT GATES

Not Sure’s Excluded

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

Base: All adults

	TREND	Positive*	Negative**
	TREND	%	%
2007	April	29	55
	February	32	52

*Positive = excellent or pretty good.

**Negative = only fair or poor.

TABLE 7

RATINGS OF HOUSE SPEAKER NANCY PELOSI

Not Sure's Excluded

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

Base: All adults

	TREND	Positive*	Negative**
	TREND	%	%
2007	April	30	56
	February	38	45

*Positive = excellent or pretty good.

**Negative = only fair or poor.

TABLE 8

RATINGS OF SENATE MAJORITY LEADER HARRY REID

Not Sure's Excluded

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

Base: All adults

	TREND	Positive*	Negative**
	TREND	%	%
2007	April	22	52
	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 9

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	April	27	69
	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 10

RATINGS OF REPUBLICANS IN CONGRESS

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

	TREND	Positive*	Negative**
	TREND	%	%
2007	April	22	74
	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 11

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**
	TREND	%	%
2007	April	35	58
	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 12

RIGHT DIRECTION OR WRONG TRACK

No Opinion’s, Not Sure’s and Decline to Answer’s Excluded

"Generally speaking, would you say things in the country are 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	April	26	67
	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 13

MOST IMPORTANT ISSUES FOR GOVERNMENT to address

"What do you think are the two most important issues 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	07	07
	April	May	Jan	Feb	Aug	Dec	Dec	June	Oct	Aug	Feb	June	Aug	Oct	Nov	Feb	April
	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%
(The) war	X	X	X	X	X	12	18	8	35	41	27	27	28	29	33	29	30
Healthcare (not Medicare)	16	10	11	12	15	5	10	14	18	11	20	12	12	13	15	12	15
Iraq / (Saddam Hussein)	*	*	*	1	-	-	11	3	9	6	5	8	7	8	10	10	13
The economy (non-specific)	14	8	9	7	5	32	34	25	28	19	15	14	16	15	12	9	10
Education	14	15	14	21	25	12	11	13	7	8	8	7	8	9	7	7	9
Immigration	2	2	1	*	1	1	1	2	2	3	5	20	10	12	11	7	9
Crime/violence	16	19	13	8	10	1	2	3	1	3	1	2	3	2	2	2	6
Terrorism	X	X	X	X	X	22	17	11	7	7	6	4	9	7	3	9	5
Taxes	11	14	16	12	13	6	5	11	8	5	6	4	4	5	5	7	5
Employment/jobs	9	5	3	4	4	7	8	8	10	3	5	7	6	6	7	4	5
Environment	1	3	2	3	3	1	3	2	1	3	2	3	2	2	2	4	4
Foreign policy (non-specific)	3	3	5	4	3	2	4	2	3	2	3	2	2	3	2	4	4
Social security	X	6	6	24	16	3	2	4	4	10	7	5	2	5	4	3	4
Military/defense	1	2	2	2	4	4	1	5	3	1	3	4	3	3	3	3	3
Gas and oil prices	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	1	1	10	2	8	8	4	1	1	3
Second Amendment (right to bear arms)	X	X	*	*	*	*	X	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	2
Religion (decline of)	*	*	1	*	1	2	1	1	1	*	*	1	1	1	1	2	2
Domestic/social issues (non-specific)	4	2	3	2	2	2	2	1	2	2	*	3	1	*	1	1	2
Homeland/domestic security/public safety	X	X	X	X	X	8	9	3	6	2	3	2	4	3	2	3	2
School safety	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	2	*	1	1	1	1	*	*	*	2
Energy	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	1	1	4	4	4	4	2	1	2	2
Budget/Government spending	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	5	2	3	3	5	2
Drugs	4	8	6	2	5	2	3	3	*	2	1	1	2	1	1	3	2
(Programs for) the poor/ poverty	2	3	2	2	3	1	2	3	*	4	5	4	3	5	3	2	2
Medicare	3	4	5	5	6	1	1	4	3	2	5	1	1	2	3	1	2
Abortion	4	2	2	2	6	1	1	1	4	2	1	1	1	2	1	1	2
Peace/world peace/nuclear arms	3	1	3	3	1	2	2	3	*	1	1	1	2	1	1	1	1
Welfare	13	14	8	4	2	1	1	3	*	3	1	1	X	1	1	1	1
Family values (decline of)	2	2	1	2	1	*	*	1	1	1	*	1	1	1	1	1	1
Election/Voter reform	X	X	X	X	X	X	1	1	*	1	1	*	1	*	*	2	1
Bush/president	x	x	x	x	X	X	x	x	X	x	1	X	*	1	x	*	1
Downsizing government	X	X	X	X	1	*	X	X	1	*	*	1	*	*	*	1	1
AIDS	1	*	1	x	*	*	*	2	x	*	*	*	1	*	*	2	1
National security	X	X	X	2	2	6	3	6	5	2	2	2	3	2	2	2	1
Homelessness	3	4	4	3	3	2	2	1	*	1	1	1	2	1	1	2	1
Human/civil/women's rights	2	2	1	*	1	1	1	*	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	2	1
Ethics in government	*	*	*	*	*	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	2	*	1
Inflation	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	1	1	2	1	1	2	2	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	*
Middle East peace process between Palestinians and Israel	X	X	X	X	X	2	2	2	*	1	1	*	1	*	1	*	*
FEMA	x	x	x	x	X	X	x	x	X	x	*	*	1	X	x	*	*
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	*
Medical research	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	2	2	1	2	*	1	*	1	1	*
Air Travel Safety	-	-	-	-	-	1	*	*	X	*	X	*	1	X	*	*	*
Other¹	7	8	19	2	19	3	8	8	8	1	5	6	5	8	8	6	6
Not sure/refused/no issue	7	9	12	16	18	11	10	12	9	8	6	6	6	10	9	9	8

* = 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 April 20 and 23, 2007 among a nationwide cross
section of 1,001 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 1,001, 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.

J30773
QA1, QA2, QA3}

Print
Printer Friendly Version of this Release

Follow The Harris Poll on:

Subscribe to Over the Wire – Weblog commentary of research data on current events and social trends

Sign-up for Harris Poll Weekly

About The Harris Poll

The Harris Poll by Date

	2009
	2008
	2007
	2006
	2005

Financial Times / Harris Poll

Search The Harris Poll Library

News Room


PRIVACY SURVEY DEMO ESOMAR 26 QUESTIONS JOIN OUR PANEL SITE MAP SEARCH ©2009 Harris Interactive Inc. All rights reserved.