Bush Has Highest Disapproval In Thirty Years; Equals Worst Net Disapproval Since Nixon

by Chris Bowers, Thu Nov 17, 2005 at 07:29:18 AM EST

Harris has some rancid new numbers for Bush: 34% approve, 65% disapprove. Although techincally it is 34% positive and 65% negative, the 31-point gap equals the worst approval poll faced by any President since Nixon. Check it out:

Poll	  President	App    Dis     Date
Harris	   Bush Jr	34     65     11/05
Gallup	   Bush Sr	29     60     06/92
Gallup	   Carter		28     59     06/79
Gallup	   Nixon		24     66     08/74

65% negative / disapprove also ties Bush with Nixon for the third highest disapproval ever recorded by a sitting President. Only Nixon's 66 in his final approval poll, and Truman's 67 in early January of 1952, were worse.

Tags: Republicans (all tags)

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Yeah, but Dems don't look too hot either

Both parties look like they're in the toilet, with Dems closer to the drain by two points (25% approval for them, 27% for GOP).

by rlsumi 2005-11-17 07:43AM | 0 recs

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this gives is a chance...

Apologies in advance for the lame segue, but... Bush's terrible ratings give us the chance we need to deny him the kinds of tricks he used in the past to attack civil liberties.

Once again, the White House and Republican leaders staged a last-minute bill substitution, this time of the PATRIOT Act reauthorization conference report. The House mostly reauthorized the PATRIOT Act with minor changes. The Senate sent forward a bill that had several important compromises in it - not good enough, but a significant improvement over the original. But what's coming out of the conference committee to be voted on this week is neither - it is a new White House sponsored expansion of the PATRIOT Act with hardly any sunsets at all.

Read my dKos diary about it. Make calls, spread the link, act fast. This could be a Bush victory in the fact of tough times, or it could be a big embarassment for him.

by cos 2005-11-17 07:55AM | 0 recs

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Re: this gives is a chance...

(ugh! I thought I was hitting "preview" not "post". Change "is" to "us" in the title, "fact" to "face" in the last sentence)

by cos 2005-11-17 07:56AM | 0 recs

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apples and oranges

Would you stop comparing Harris to Gallup, or whatever? They're consistently different. Gallup biases high -- apparently for all presidents. Harris does not. The Gallup numbers are 37/60. Not as dramatic, but plenty good from where I sit.

by drlimerick 2005-11-17 08:20AM | 0 recs

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beats his father again!

Well, at least Dubya can find comfort in the fact he is beating his father again. He's become the most loathed president in his own lifetime! That must qualify as a historical achievement.

by Sayhey 2005-11-17 08:58AM | 0 recs

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Bush's numbers

How low can he go? I think many people are just plain disgusted with this administration. Last night on the Daily Show, Jon Stewart said there were 1,050 days until the 2008 presidential election. I don't know if his numbers were accurate, but it does seem very far in the future.

by Marie Smith 2005-11-17 08:59AM | 0 recs

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Bush is making a classic mistake

Again, I'm constantly amazed at the lousy handicapping in politics, by both parties.

Bush going negative in regard to the war dialogue is never going to boost his favorables. It reminds me of last year when Democrats were masochistically calling for more and more hammering of Bush when the problem all along was Kerry's favorables. The opinions of Bush were basically locked, minus outside influences like we've seen unfold over the past few months. Nothing Kerry or MoveOn could say was going to alter impression of Bush.

Let's hope Bush and the GOP are relentlessly ignorant of the proper approach and continue to attack us. They are on the defensive right now and the party in that position never benefits from negativity. If Bush wanted to boost his standing he needed to embrace something positive and meaningful to his base and also the soft Republicans he has lost. A big picture issue that can shift the attention and be argued logically, at least logically by warped GOP mindset. He forfeited almost all his major second term issues earlier this year and luckily nothing substantial to fall back on.

by jagakid 2005-11-17 12:21PM | 0 recs