The Harris Poll^® #61, June 12, 2008

America’s Sour Mood: Ratings of Bush, Cheney, Rice and Congress Sink to Worst Levels Ever

A Record Four Out of Five Adults Now Think Country is on the Wrong Track

The latest Harris Poll finds the nation in a foul political mood. President George W. Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice all register their worst ratings ever. More people than ever also think the country is on the wrong track.

But this does not seem to help the Democrats. The Democratically-controlled Congress gets even worse ratings than the President and Vice-President, and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s ratings have also fallen to their lowest point.

These are some of the results from the latest Harris Poll of 1,001 U.S. adults surveyed by telephone between June 4 and 8, 2008 by Harris Interactive^®.

Some key findings are:

President Bush’s latest ratings are 24 percent positive and fully 75 percent negative. Previously, his worst numbers were 26 percent positive and 72 percent negative in April of this year. His ratings are substantially worse than those of any president, except for Jimmy Carter (22%-77% in July 1980), since Harris first started measuring themin 1963.
Vice President Cheney’s ratings are even worse, 18 percent positive and 74 percent negative, compared to his previous low of 21 percent positive, 74 percent negative last July.
Secretary of State Rice’s ratings are much better than those of the President and Vice President, but also have fallen to their lowest point ever, 39 percent positive and 54 percent negative, compared to 42 percent positive and 51 percent negative last October.
Only 14 percent of the public think the things in the country are going in the right direction and fully 80 percent think they are on the wrong track. These compare to the previous worst numbers in President George W. Bush’s term, 75 percent thought things were on the wrong track in April. The highest number of people who said the country was on the wrong track was 81 percent in June of 1992 during the term of the first President Bush.

However, this dismal news for the administration has done nothing to help the Democrats. Most people seem to wish "a plague on all your houses". Congress, which of course is controlled by the Democrats, gets its worst ratings ever, only 13 percent positive and fully 83 percent negative. Its previous low point was in December of last year when it was rated 17 percent positive and 79 percent negative. And, Speaker Pelosi’s ratings have fallen to 24 percent positive, 57 percent negative compared to her previous low of 25 percent positive and 61 percent negative in February.

Clearly the economy and record gas prices are a big part of the problem. When asked, without being prompted or shown a list, which are the two most important issues for the government to address, the economy (38%) gets the most mentions, followed by the war (25%, but another 9% mention Iraq) and gas and oil prices (20%) Those mentioning gas and oil prices have jumped from only 1 percent in February and 10 percent in April to 20 percent now. The only other issue mentioned by more than 9 percent is health care (17%).

So What?

In this election year these dismal findings have, of course, a huge significance. Key questions that they raise include:

To what extent can Barack Obama and the Democrats capitalize on the unpopularity of this administration – or be damaged by the public hostility of such large majorities to both parties and to Washington?
How much will John McCain be hurt by the massive unpopularity of the current Republican administration? Can he persuade people that he is a fresh broom who will change the direction in which the country is moving?

The polls cannot answer these questions now, but they will track the successes and failures of the campaigns to address them between now and November.

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	26	31	22	8	39	54
President George W. Bush	5	19	24	51	1	24	75
Democrats in Congress	3	19	40	33	5	21	73
Vice President Dick Cheney	3	14	28	46	8	18	74
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi	2	22	33	29	15	24	61
Republicans in Congress	1	19	33	42	5	21	75
Congress	1	12	45	38	4	13	83

*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	Nov. 2004	Feb. 2005	Nov. 2005	Mar 2006	Sept. 2006	Feb. 2007	July 2007	Feb 2008	June 2008
POSITIVE RATINGS	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%
President George W. Bush	88	52	70	51	50	48	34	36	38	32	26	28	24
Vice President Dick Cheney	69	45	55	41	48	45	30	30	30	29	21	22	18
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice	**	**	**	**	**	52	52	51	55	46	47	46	39

** Not Applicable. The question was not asked

TABLE 3
PRESIDENTS BEST AND WORST RATINGS

	Date	Best	Worst
George W. Bush	October 2001 June 2008	88%-11%	24%-75%
Bill Clinton	December 2000 June 1993	69%-29%	35%-63%
George H.W. Bush	March 1991 July 1992	83%-16%	29%-70%
Ronald Reagan	October 1985 April 1982	71%-29%	38%-61%
Jimmy Carter	April 1977 July 1980	69%-27%	22%-77%
Gerald Ford	September 1974 November 1975	67%-20%	30%-67%
Richard Nixon	October 1969 March, June & August 1974	62%-34%	26%-71%
Lyndon Johnson	May & October 1964 March 1968	78%-22%	38%-62%

TABLE 4
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	%	%
2008	June	24	75
	April	26	72
	February	28	69
2007	December	32	68
	October	27	72
	September	31	67
	July	26	73
	April	28	70
	February	32	67
2006	November	31	67
	October	34	63
	September	38	61
	August	34	65
	July	34	65
	May	29	71
	April	35	63
	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
	January	79	19
2001	December	82	17
	November	86	12
	October	88	11
	August	52	43
	May	59	35
	March	49	38
	February	56	26

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

TABLE 5
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	%	%
2008	June	18	74
	February	22	71
2007	October	23	72
	July	21	74
	April	25	68
	February	29	67
2006	September	30	64
	June	31	65
	March	30	67
2005	November	30	65
	August	35	60
	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
	October	54	37
	August	45	43
	April	55	31
	March	59	29
	February	57	31
2001	October	69	20
	July	39	52

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

TABLE 6
RATINGS OF SECRETARY OF STATE CONDOLEEZZA RICE
Not Sure's Excluded

"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	%	%
2008	June	39	54
	February	46	46
2007	October	42	51
	July	47	47
	April	45	50
	February	46	48
2006	September	55	42
	June	52	43
	March	51	44
2005	November	52	41
	August	57	37
	April	54	39
	February	52	40

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

TABLE 7
RATINGS OF HOUSE SPEAKER NANCY PELOSI
Not Sure's Excluded

"How would you rate the job House Speaker Nancy Pelosi isdoing – excellent, pretty good, only fair or poor?"

Base: All adults

	TREND	Positive*	Negative**
	TREND	%	%
2008	June	24	61
	February	25	57
2007	October	29	57
	July	34	51
	April	30	56
	February	38	45

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

TABLE 8
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	%	%
2008	June	13	83
	April	17	77
	February	20	76
2007	December	17	79
	October	20	77
	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 9
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	%	%
2008	June	21	75
	April	20	73
	February	22	72
2007	December	23	73
	October	19	76
	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 (low)	37	51
	April (high)	52	41
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 10
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	%	%
2008	June	21	73
	April	23	70
	February	26	70
2007	December	23	73
	October	29	67
	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 11
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	%	%
2008	June	14	80
	April	15	75
	February	23	69
2007	December	18	74
	October	22	67
	September	24	63
	July	19	70
	April	26	67
	February	29	62
2006	November	31	58
	September	31	59
	August	26	64
	May	24	69
	February	32	59
2005	November	27	68
	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
1992	October	15	78
	June	12	81
	January	20	75
1991	December	17	75
	January	58	32
1990	October	20	73
	February	48	43

TABLE 12
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

	‘97	‘98	‘99	‘00	‘01	‘02	‘03	‘04	‘05	‘06	06	07	07	08	08	08
	May	Jan	Feb	Aug	Dec	Dec	June	Oct	Aug	June	Nov	Feb	Oct	Feb	Apr	June
	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%
The economy (non-specific)	8	9	7	5	32	34	25	28	19	14	12	9	13	41	47	38
(The) war	X	X	X	X	12	18	8	35	41	27	33	29	24	26	28	25
Gas and oil prices	X	X	X	X	X	X	1	1	10	8	1	1	2	1	10	20
Healthcare (not Medicare)	10	11	12	15	5	10	14	18	11	12	15	12	25	22	17	17
Iraq	*	*	1	X	X	11	3	9	6	8	10	10	14	14	10	9
Immigration	2	1	*	1	1	1	2	2	3	20	11	7	12	12	9	8
Education	15	14	21	25	12	11	13	7	8	7	7	7	6	4	5	8
Energy	X	X	X	X	X	X	1	1	4	4	1	2	1	1	2	7
Employment/jobs	5	3	4	4	7	8	8	10	3	7	7	4	5	6	9	7
Environment	3	2	3	3	1	3	2	1	3	3	2	4	3	2	2	4
Taxes	14	16	12	13	6	5	11	8	5	4	5	7	3	6	4	4
Inflation	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	1	2	2	2	3	*	2	3
Military/defense	2	2	2	4	4	1	5	3	1	4	3	3	2	2	2	3
Foreign policy (non-specific)	3	5	4	3	2	4	2	3	2	2	2	4	4	2	3	3
National security	X	X	2	2	6	3	6	5	2	2	2	2	2	5	2	2
Budget/Government spending	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	5	3	5	6	5	2	2
Housing	X	X	X	X	X	1	1	*	*	1	*	2	2	2	5	2
(Programs for) the poor/ poverty	3	2	2	3	1	2	3	*	4	4	3	2	4	4	1	2
Terrorism	X	X	X	X	22	17	11	7	7	4	3	9	4	3	2	2
Religion (decline of)	*	1	*	1	2	1	1	1	*	1	1	2	1	1	1	1
Honesty/Integrity/ Moral Values	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	2	2	1	*	1	1	1	1	1
Programs for the elderly (not Medicare/Social Security)	1	1	1	2	1	1	3	*	*	*	1	1	1	1	*	1
Judicial/Legal Issues	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	*	2	1	1	1	1	1	1	1
Drugs	8	6	2	5	2	3	3	*	2	1	1	3	3	1	1	1
Medicare	4	5	5	6	1	1	4	3	2	1	3	1	3	1	1	1
Social security	6	6	24	16	3	2	4	4	10	5	4	3	3	4	3	1
Domestic/social issues (non-specific)	2	3	2	2	2	2	1	2	2	3	1	1	3	2	2	1
Homelessness	4	4	3	3	2	2	1	*	1	1	1	2	3	2	2	1
Abortion	2	2	2	6	1	1	1	4	2	1	1	1	2	1	2	1
Crime/violence	19	13	8	10	1	2	3	1	3	2	2	2	2	1	1	1
Homeland/domestic security/public safety	X	X	X	X	8	9	3	6	2	2	2	3	2	2	1	1
Same sex rights	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	1	1	2	*	1	*	*	1	*
Human/civil/ women's rights	2	1	*	1	1	1	*	1	1	1	1	2	2	*	1	*
Welfare	14	8	4	2	1	1	3	*	3	1	1	1	2	1	1	*
Family values (decline of)	2	1	2	1	*	*	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	*	1	*
Ethics in government	*	*	*	*	1	1	1	1	1	1	2	*	1	1	1	*
Downsizing government	X	X	X	1	*	X	X	1	*	1	*	1	1	1	*	*
Peace/world peace/nuclear arms	1	3	3	1	2	2	3	*	1	1	1	1	2	1	*	*
Race Relations	X	2	*	1	1	*	*	X	*	*	*	*	1	*	*	*
Bush/president	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	*	1	*	*	*
Medical research	X	X	X	X	X	X	2	2	1	*	1	1	2	*	*	*
AIDS	*	1	X	*	*	*	2	X	*	*	*	2	1	*	*	X
Second Amendment (right to bear arms)	X	*	*	*	*	X	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	1	*	X
Middle East peace process between Palestinians and Israel	X	X	X	X	2	2	2	*	1	*	1	*	*	*	*	X
School safety	X	X	X	X	X	X	2	*	1	1	*	*	1	*	*	*
Other¹	8	19	2	19	3	8	8	8	1	6	8	6	5	4	4	7
Not sure/refused/no issue	9	12	16	18	11	10	12	9	8	6	9	9	8	3	2	3

* = 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 June 4 and 8, 2008 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 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.

J34597
QA1, QA2, QA3}

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