The Harris Poll^® #90, September 13, 2007

Two-Thirds of Americans Disapprove of President’s Job Performance

Three-quarters of Americans Disapprove of Congress’ Job Performance

Six years after his record high approval rating, President George W. Bush’s ratings remain at the bottom. This month, just three in ten Americans (31%) give his job performance positive marks while two-thirds (67%) give his job negative ratings. In fact, 42 percent of Americans find his performance to be poor, the lowest of the ratings. This is, however, better than July when just one-quarter (26%) gave his job positive ratings and 73 percent gave it negative ratings.

These are some of the results from the latest Harris Poll of 1,000 U.S. adults surveyed by telephone between September 7 and 10, 2007 by Harris Interactive®.

Almost two-thirds (63%) believe that things in the country are going off on the wrong track while just one-quarter (24%) believe things are going in the right direction. Again, this is slightly up from mid summer. In July, 19 percent believed things were going in the right direction, while seven in ten (70%) believed things in the country were going off on the wrong track.

Opinions on Congress overall, as well as the two parties, are also low. In July, Democrats in Congress were on top as 31 percent viewed their job in a positive manner while almost two-thirds (64%) viewed it negatively. Republicans were viewed even worse as just one in five (21%) U.S. adults said their job performance was a positive one while three-quarters (76%) said it was negative. One-quarter of adults (24%) viewed the job performance of the overall institution of Congress in a positive light while 72 percent said it was negative. This month, they are all concentrated together. Just under one-quarter (22%) view both Congress and Republicans in Congress in a positive manner, while 24 percent view the job Democrats in Congress are doing positively.

Looking at Issues

Looking at the most important issue for the government to address, almost three in ten (29%) cite the War, while 11 percent say Iraq. With the roller coaster ride that Wall Street has been on recently, it is not surprising that the economy has risen as an issue. This month, 16 percent of Americans say it is one of the two most important issues for the government to address compared to 10 percent who said so in July. The same number (16%) say health care is one of the most important issues to address, followed by 13 percent say immigration.

So What?

Both the President and Congress are definitely not winning any friends among the American public. At least two-thirds of people have negative things to say about their job performance and this is a number that has been holding steady for some time now. The question becomes, is this the floor or can these numbers – across the board – go any lower?

TABLE 1

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	September	31	67
	July	26	73
	April	28	70
	February	32	67
2006	November	31	67
	October (10/25)	34	63
	October (10/13)	34	64
	September	38	61
	August	34	65
	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
	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 2
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	September	22	74
	July	24	72
	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 3
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	September	22	73
	July	21	76
	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	August (low)	41	49
	January (high)	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 4
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	September	24	70
	July	31	64
	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	August (low)	38	54
	January (high)	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 5
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 the wrong track?"

Base: All adults

	TREND	Right Direction	Wrong Track
	TREND	%	%
2007	September	24	63
	July	19	70
	April	26	67
	February	29	62
2006	November	31	58
	October	27	63
	September	31	59
	August	26	64
	June	28	64
	May	24	69
	April	27	65
	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
2000	October	50	41
	June	40	51
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
1993	June	21	70
	March	39	50

TABLE 6
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

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

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

^{1 Including government/politics (nonspecific), disaster/Hurricane
relief, Foreign Aid, trade, disability, promoting democracy, election/voter
reform , Supreme Court, youth and FEMA

Methodology

The Harris Poll^® was conducted by telephone
within the United States between September 7 and 10, 2007 among a nationwide
cross section of 1,000 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 sample surveys and polls, whether or not they use
probability sampling, are subject to multiple sources of error which are most
often not possible to quantify or estimate, including sampling error, coverage
error, error associated with nonresponse, error associated with question wording
and response options, and post-survey weighting and adjustments. Therefore,
Harris Interactive avoids the words "margin of error" as they are
misleading. All that can be calculated are different possible sampling errors
with different probabilities for pure, unweighted, random samples with 100%
response rates. These are only theoretical because no published polls come close
to this ideal.

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

J31728
QA1, QA2, QA3}

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