Poll: Bush =32%, twice better than Congress

Zogby press release:

Zogby: Bush Job Approval – 32%
While the President’s positive ratings have dipped slightly, they remain more than twice as high as the Democratic Congress

President George W. Bush’s overall job approval rating has taken a small dip, dropping to 32% positive, down from 34% who gave him positive job marks in mid-July, a new Reuters/Zogby International telephone poll shows.
The survey also shows that the overall job approval rating for the work of Congress remains far below the President’s, as just 15% give the national legislature a collective positive rating, up one point since last month. Changes in both the ratings for the President and Congress are statistically insignificant.

This latest Reuters/Zogby poll included interviews with 1,020 likely voters between August 9-11, 2007. It carries a margin of error of +/- 3.1 percentage points.

Bush has lingered in the low 30s all year. His most recent high was a 42% positive rating just a week before the 2006 midterm elections, when Republicans lost control of both houses of Congress. At that time, the positive approval rating for Congress had languished in the low 20s or high teens, but plummeted in the wake of its handling of controversial issues, including immigration reform and the Iraq war, other Zogby polling showed.

Bush Job Approval Rating:

Totals may not add up to 100% because of rounding. Chart includes most, but not all, of Zogby’s polling on Bush job approval. See www.zogby.com for a complete list of those ratings.
Bush wins a positive job rating from 58% of Republicans, 29% of independents, and 11% of Democrats. Among those with a household member who is now or at one time served in the Armed Forces, 37% give the President positive marks, compared with 26% of those with no household member in the military who give him a positive job rating.

Meanwhile, Congress wins just 18% positive approval from Democrats, while 80% of Dems give them negative marks for their performance so far. Republicans watching the performance of the Democratic-controlled Congress are more harsh””just 12% give it good marks, while 86% said they are doing only a “fair” or “poor” job in Washington. Political independents appear to agree with Republicans on this count””just 16% give Congress positive marks, while the balance give it a negative rating.

Most are not happy with the overall direction in which the nation is now headed, the poll shows. Just 24% said they think things in the country are going well, while 64% said they think things are off on the wrong track. The main problem is foreign policy, the Reuters/Zogby poll shows. Just 22% approve of foreign affairs as practiced by the Bush administration.

Despite their downcast view of the current political leadership in Washington, an overwhelming percentage said they are proud of their nation — 89% said they are either very or fairly proud of the United States.

Just 35% said they are pleased with current U.S. economic policy, but 60% said their own personal economic situation is good or excellent. Overall, 65% said they feel secure in their current jobs, and most are optimistic about the long-term future of the nation: 64% said they expect their children to have a better life than them.

More than three-quarters””77%””said they feel America is facing threats from abroad, while 21% said they are not concerned about such things.

For a complete methodological statement on this survey, please visit:

http://www.zogby.com/methodology/readmeth.dbm?ID=1206
http://www.zogby.com/news/ReadNews.dbm?ID=1348