GALLUP NEWS SERVICE
PRINCETON, NJ -- According to the latest CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll, 55% of Americans approve of the job George W. Bush is doing as president, while 35% disapprove -- little changed from the measures taken in May. In April, Bush's job approval reached 62%, but then fell two weeks later to 53% and has fluctuated in the mid-50 percent range since then. Bush's highest approval rating of 63% occurred in early March, while his lowest ratings -- 53% -- occurred once at the end of March and again in the beginning of May.
| George W. Bush's Job Approval Rating |
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There continue to be major divisions in the public over Bush's job approval, which generally reflect partisan differences across the country. The largest rating differences, of course, are found between Republicans and Democrats, whose approval of Bush's performance is 92% and 25% respectively. Apart from partisan differences, large ratings gaps are also found between whites and non-whites (60% approval vs. 32% approval), and between high and low income Americans: 64% of those earning $50,000 a year or more approve of the job Bush is doing, while only 37% of those earning less than $20,000 a year approve.
There is also a modest 11-point gender gap, with men approving of Bush by 61% and women by 50%. The South continues to be Bush's area of greatest support, as his approval rating is 60% there, compared with 50% in the East. Urban areas are not, however, especially enamored with the president, where his approval rating is only 45% compared with 59% each in suburban and rural areas.
Survey Methods
The results reported here are based on telephone interviews with a randomly selected national sample of 1,011 adults, 18 years and older, conducted June 8-10, 2001. For results based on this sample, one can say with 95 percent confidence that the maximum error attributable to sampling and other random effects is plus or minus 3 percentage points. In addition to sampling error, question wording and practical difficulties in conducting surveys can introduce error or bias into the findings of public opinion polls.
