It’s The Economy…Ratings of President, Congress Near Their Lowest Points Ever

ROCHESTER, N.Y. – August 14, 2008 – Even though President Bush attended the Olympics, Americans’ attitudes toward him have not improved. He is not alone in having very low approval ratings: Congress, Democrats and Republicans are all very unpopular with the American public. According to a new Harris Poll of 1,015 U.S. adults surveyed by telephone between August 6 and 10, 2008 by Harris Interactive®:

  • President Bush’s latest ratings among all adults are 25 percent positive and 74 percent negative. These are virtually unchanged from June when they were 24 percent positive and 75 percent negative;
  • Congress is in even worse shape with less than one in five Americans (18%) giving them positive ratings and over three-quarters (77%) giving them negative ratings. However, this is slightly better than in June when only 13 percent gave them positive marks and 83 percent negative ones;
  • Neither congressional Democrats, who control both houses of Congress, nor congressional Republicans are seen in a better light. Just over one in five Americans each give Democrats (22%) and Republicans (21%) positive marks while almost three quarters give them negative marks (74% and 73% respectively. These ratings also are virtually unchanged from June.

So What?

There are some clear reasons why the public is not pleased with the job government leaders are doing – and the biggest one is the pain in their wallets. Over two in five Americans (43%) say the economy is one of the two most important issues for the government to address while 15 percent each say energy issues and rising gas and oil prices are at the top. The war is also not far from people’s minds as 22 percent cite it as the most important issue; this is one of the lowest numbers since 2004.

A crucial question that may determine who will be the next president is whether the two main candidates will be dragged down by the great unpopularity of this administration, the Congress and the Congressional leaders of both parties. Barack Obama may have a tremendous opportunity to capitalize on the dismal ratings of the Bush administration, but that depends on whether both he and John McCain can distance themselves from their respective unpopular counterparts. Ultimately, the polls cannot answer this question now, but they will continue to track the success and failure of the campaigns to address it between now and November.

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**

%

%

2008

August

25

74
 

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

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 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**

%

%

2008

August

18

77
 

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 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**

%

%

2008

August

21

73
 

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 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**

%

%

2008

August

22

74
 

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 5

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

07

07

08

08

08

08

May

Jan

Feb

Aug

Dec

Dec

June

Oct

Aug

June

Feb

Oct

Feb

Apr

June

Aug

%

%

%

%

%

%

%

%

%

%

%

%

%

%

%

%

The economy (non-specific)

8

9

7

5

32

34

25

28

19

14

9

13

41

47

38

43

(The) war

X

X

X

X

12

18

8

35

41

27

29

24

26

28

25

22

Gas and oil prices

X

X

X

X

X

X

1

1

10

8

1

2

1

10

20

15

Energy

X

X

X

X

X

X

1

1

4

4

2

1

1

2

7

15

Healthcare (not Medicare)

10

11

12

15

5

10

14

18

11

12

12

25

22

17

17

15

Iraq

*

*

1

X

X

11

3

9

6

8

10

14

14

10

9

8

Employment/jobs

5

3

4

4

7

8

8

10

3

7

4

5

6

9

7

7

Immigration

2

1

*

1

1

1

2

2

3

20

7

12

12

9

8

6

Education

15

14

21

25

12

11

13

7

8

7

7

6

4

5

8

6

Environment

3

2

3

3

1

3

2

1

3

3

4

3

2

2

4

3

Budget/Government spending

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

5

5

6

5

2

2

3

Housing

X

X

X

X

X

1

1

*

*

1

2

2

2

5

2

3

Foreign policy (non-specific)

3

5

4

3

2

4

2

3

2

2

4

4

2

3

3

3

Taxes

14

16

12

13

6

5

11

8

5

4

7

3

6

4

4

3

Domestic/social issues (non-specific)

2

3

2

2

2

2

1

2

2

3

1

3

2

2

1

3

Military/defense

2

2

2

4

4

1

5

3

1

4

3

2

2

2

3

3

National security

X

X

2

2

6

3

6

5

2

2

2

2

5

2

2

2

Homeland/domestic security/public safety

X

X

X

X

8

9

3

6

2

2

3

2

2

1

1

2

(Programs for) the poor/ poverty

3

2

2

3

1

2

3

*

4

4

2

4

4

1

2

2

Crime/violence

19

13

8

10

1

2

3

1

3

2

2

2

1

1

1

2

Terrorism

X

X

X

X

22

17

11

7

7

4

9

4

3

2

2

2

Medicare

4

5

5

6

1

1

4

3

2

1

1

3

1

1

1

1

Social security

6

6

24

16

3

2

4

4

10

5

3

3

4

3

1

1

Homelessness

4

4

3

3

2

2

1

*

1

1

2

3

2

2

1

1

Abortion

2

2

2

6

1

1

1

4

2

1

1

2

1

2

1

1

Religion (decline of)

*

1

*

1

2

1

1

1

*

1

2

1

1

1

1

1

Inflation

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

1

2

2

3

*

2

3

1

Honesty/Integrity/Moral Values

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

2

2

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

Race Relations

X

2

*

1

1

*

*

X

*

*

*

1

*

*

*

1

Programs for the elderly (not Medicare/Social Security)

1

1

1

2

1

1

3

*

*

*

1

1

1

*

1

1

Human/civil/women's rights

2

1

*

1

1

1

*

1

1

1

2

2

*

1

*

1

Downsizing government

X

X

X

1

*

X

X

1

*

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

3

3

1

1

1

1

Same sex rights

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

1

1

2

1

*

*

1

*

*

Middle East peace process between Palestinians and Israel

X

X

X

X

2

2

2

*

1

*

*

*

*

*

X

*

School safety

X

X

X

X

X

X

2

*

1

1

*

1

*

*

*

*

Welfare

14

8

4

2

1

1

3

*

3

1

1

2

1

1

*

*

Family values (decline of)

2

1

2

1

*

*

1

1

1

1

1

1

*

1

*

*

Ethics in government

*

*

*

*

1

1

1

1

1

1

*

1

1

1

*

*

Peace/world peace/nuclear arms

1

3

3

1

2

2

3

*

1

1

1

2

1

*

*

*

Bush/president

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

*

1

*

*

*

*

Medical research

X

X

X

X

X

X

2

2

1

*

1

2

*

*

*

X

AIDS

*

1

X

*

*

*

2

X

*

*

2

1

*

*

X

X

Second Amendment (right to bear arms)

X

*

*

*

*

X

*

*

*

*

*

*

1

*

X

X

Other1

8

19

2

19

3

8

8

8

1

6

6

5

4

4

7

5

Not sure/refused/no issue

9

12

16

18

11

10

12

9

8

6

9

8

3

2

3

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 August 6 and 10, 2008 among a nationwide cross section of 1,015 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.

J34941

QA1, QA2, QA3



©2008, Harris Interactive Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction prohibited without the express written permission of Harris Interactive.



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