Bush Job Approval: 31%

GALLUP NEWS SERVICE

PRINCETON, NJ -- President George W. Bush's job approval rating has reached yet another new low for his administration, according to a new USA Today/Gallup poll. The poll, conducted May 5-7, 2006, finds that 31% of Americans approve of the way Bush is handling his job as president while 65% disapprove. Bush's approval rating is down three percentage points from last weekend, which is not a statistically significant drop, but has shown a six-point decline from early April and a 12-point decline since the start of the year.

The decline in Bush's approval rating has accelerated in the past month or so. His ratings were stable in the low 40% range in January and early February, then declined slightly into the mid- to upper-30% range through the beginning of April. Since April, Bush's ratings have fallen six points.

Bush's ratings continue to be highly divisive along partisan lines, and, at the same time, reached a new low among both Republicans and Democrats. Sixty-eight percent of Republicans say they approve of Bush, while 26% of independents and only 4% of Democrats share that view.

The poll finds some interesting changes in Bush's approval ratings among the three party groups:

The new low point in Republicans' ratings of Bush marks a significant drop in approval in the current poll. At the beginning of the year, more than 8 in 10 Republicans said they approved of Bush. This percentage dropped to 74% in mid-April before rebounding to 81% last weekend. Now, just 68% of Republicans say they approve of the job Bush is doing.

This poll also finds a new low in Bush's ratings among Democrats, with just 4% saying they approve of him. This is only two percentage points lower than Gallup measured last weekend. The highest approval rating among Democrats so far this year has only been 13%, measured once in January and again in March.

Among independents, ratings of Bush are up slightly from 21% last weekend to 26% in the current poll. The current results are at roughly the same level that Gallup has been finding among independents in the past couple of months, but it is still lower than the 35% high point among this group so far this year that Gallup found in February.

Partisan Low Points for the Five Most Recent Presidents

To better understand Bush's ratings among the different political groups, Gallup examined the partisan ratings of the five most recent presidents at their historical low points, from the Jimmy Carter administration through the current Bush administration.

Presidential Approval Ratings Low Points
President-(Party)	Date	Lowest Approval	Own Party	Opposing Party	Indep- endents
		%	%	%	%
Bill Clinton-(D)	Jun 1993	37	63	18	28
Ronald Reagan-(R)	Jan 1983	35	69	19	34
George W. Bush-(R)	May 2006	31	68	4	26
George H.W. Bush-(R)	Jul 1992	29	57	12	27
Jimmy Carter-(D)	Jun 1979	28	34	19	29

Bush's 4% rating among Democrats is significantly lower than any of the five most recent presidents received from his opposing party at the low point of his administration. The low point among Democrats for George H.W. Bush was 12%, and for Ronald Reagan it was 19%. For Democratic presidents Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter, their low points among Republicans were 18% and 19%, respectively.

Bush's 68% rating among Republicans is better than Carter's rating among Democrats (34%), the elder Bush's rating among Republicans (57%), and Clinton's rating among Democrats (63%), at each president's low point. It is roughly the same as the 69% that Reagan received among Republicans at his low point.

Bush has the widest gap between Republicans' and Democrats' approval ratings of any of the five presidents at the low points of their administration. There is a 64-point gap between Republicans' and Democrats' ratings of Bush right now. This compares with a 50-point partisan gap for Reagan, a 45-point gap for Clinton, a 45-point gap for the elder Bush, and a 15-point gap for Carter.

Survey Methods

Results are based on telephone interviews with 1,013 national adults, aged 18 and older, conducted May 5-7, 2006. For results based on the total sample of national adults, one can say with 95% confidence that the margin of sampling error is ±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.

Do you approve or disapprove of the way George W. Bush is handling his job as president?

	Approve	Dis- approve	No opinion
	%	%	%
2006
2006 May 5-7	31	65	5
2006 Apr 28-30	34	63	3
2006 Apr 10-13	36	59	5
2006 Apr 7-9	37	60	3
2006 Mar 13-16	37	59	5
2006 Mar 10-12	36	60	4
2006 Feb 28-Mar 1	38	60	2
2006 Feb 9-12	39	56	4
2006 Feb 6-9	42	55	4
2006 Jan 20-22	43	54	4
2006 Jan 9-12	43	53	4
2006 Jan 6-8	43	54	3

2005
2005 Dec 19-22	43	53	4
2005 Dec 16-18	41	56	3
2005 Dec 9-11	42	55	3
2005 Dec 5-8	43	52	5
2005 Nov 17-20	38	57	5
2005 Nov 11-13	37	60	3
2005 Nov 7-10	40	55	5
2005 Oct 28-30	41	56	3
2005 Oct 24-26	41	56	3
2005 Oct 21-23	42	55	3
2005 Oct 13-16	39	58	3
2005 Sep 26-28	45	50	5
2005 Sep 16-18	40	58	2
2005 Sep 12-15	45	52	3
2005 Sep 8-11	46	51	3
2005 Aug 28-30	45	52	3
2005 Aug 22-25	40	56	4
2005 Aug 8-11	45	51	4
2005 Aug 5-7	45	51	4
2005 Jul 25-28	44	51	5
2005 Jul 22-24	49	48	3
2005 Jul 7-10	49	48	3
2005 Jun 29-30	46	51	3
2005 Jun 24-26	45	53	2
2005 Jun 16-19	47	51	2
2005 Jun 6-8	47	49	4
2005 May 23-26	48	47	5
2005 May 20-22	46	50	4
2005 May 2-5	50	45	5
2005 Apr 29-May 1	48	49	3
2005 Apr 18-21	48	49	3
2005 Apr 4-7	50	45	5
2005 Apr 1-2	48	48	4
2005 Mar 21-23	45	49	6
2005 Mar 18-20	52	44	4
2005 Mar 7-10	52	44	4
2005 Feb 25-26	52	45	3
2005 Feb 21-24	51	45	4
2005 Feb 7-10	49	48	3
2005 Feb 4-6	57	40	3
2005 Jan 14-16	51	46	3
2005 Jan 7-9	52	44	4
2005 Jan 3-5	52	44	4

2004
2004 Dec 17-19	49	46	5
2004 Dec 5-8	53	44	3
2004 Nov 19-21	55	42	3
2004 Nov 7-10	53	44	3
2004 Oct 29-31	48	47	5
2004 Oct 22-24	51	46	3
2004 Oct 14-16	51	47	2
2004 Oct 11-14	48	49	3
2004 Oct 9-10	47	49	4
2004 Oct 1-3	50	48	2
2004 Sep 24-26	54	44	2
2004 Sep 13-15	52	45	3
2004 Sep 3-5	52	46	2
2004 Aug 23-25	49	47	4
2004 Aug 9-11	51	46	3
2004 Jul 30-Aug 1	48	49	3
2004 Jul 19-21	49	47	4
2004 Jul 8-11	47	49	4
2004 Jun 21-23	48	49	3
2004 Jun 3-6	49	49	2
2004 May 21-23	47	49	4
2004 May 7-9	46	51	3
2004 May 2-4	49	48	3
2004 Apr 16-18	52	45	3
2004 Apr 5-8	52	45	3
2004 Mar 26-28	53	44	3
2004 Mar 8-11	50	47	3
2004 Mar 5-7	49	48	3
2004 Feb 16-17	51	46	3
2004 Feb 9-12	51	46	3
2004 Feb 6-8	52	44	4
2004 Jan 29-Feb 1	49	48	3
2004 Jan 12-15	53	44	3
2004 Jan 9-11	59	38	3
2004 Jan 2-5	60	35	5

	Approve	Dis- approve	No opinion
2003
2003 Dec 15-16	63	34	3
2003 Dec 11-14	56	41	3
2003 Dec 5-7	55	43	2
2003 Nov 14-16	50	47	3
2003 Nov 10-12	51	45	4
2003 Nov 3-5	54	43	3
2003 Oct 24-26	53	42	5
2003 Oct 10-12	56	40	4
2003 Oct 6-8	55	42	3
2003 Sep 19-21	50	47	3
2003 Sep 8-10	52	43	5
2003 Aug 25-26	59	37	4
2003 Aug 4-6	60	36	4
2003 Jul 25-27	58	38	4
2003 Jul 18-20	59	38	3
2003 Jul 7-9	62	34	4
2003 Jun 27-29	61	36	3
2003 Jun 12-15	63	33	4
2003 Jun 9-10	62	34	4
2003 May 30-Jun 1	64	32	4
2003 May 19-21	66	30	4
2003 May 5-7	69	28	3
2003 Apr 22-23	70	26	4
2003 Apr 14-16	71	24	5
2003 Apr 7-9	69	26	5
2003 Apr 5-6	70	27	3
2003 Mar 29-30	71	26	3
2003 Mar 24-25	69	27	4
2003 Mar 22-23	71	25	4
2003 Mar 14-15	58	38	4
2003 Mar 3-5	57	37	6
2003 Feb 24-26	57	37	6
2003 Feb 17-19	58	37	5
2003 Feb 7-9	61	34	5
2003 Feb 3-6	59	35	6
2003 Jan 31-Feb 2	61	35	4
2003 Jan 23-25	60	36	4
2003 Jan 20-22	58	36	6
2003 Jan 13-16	61	34	5
2003 Jan 10-12	58	37	5
2003 Jan 3-5	63	32	5

2002
2002 Dec 19-22	61	32	7
2002 Dec 16-17	63	33	4
2002 Dec 9-10	63	32	5
2002 Dec 5-8	64	29	7
2002 Nov 22-24	65	28	7
2002 Nov 11-14	66	26	8
2002 Nov 8-10	68	27	5
2002 Oct 31-Nov 3	63	29	8
2002 Oct 21-22	67	28	5
2002 Oct 14-17	62	31	7
2002 Oct 3-6	67	28	5
2002 Sep 23-26	68	26	6
2002 Sep 20-22	66	30	4
2002 Sep 13-16	70	26	4
2002 Sep 5-8	66	30	4
2002 Sep 2-4	66	29	5
2002 Aug 19-21	65	28	7
2002 Aug 5-8	68	26	6
2002 Jul 29-31	71	23	6
2002 Jul 26-28	69	26	5
2002 Jul 22-24	69	24	7
2002 Jul 9-11	73	21	6
2002 Jul 5-8	76	18	6
2002 Jun 28-30	76	19	5
2002 Jun 21-23	73	21	6
2002 Jun 17-19	74	20	6
2002 Jun 7-8	74	18	8
2002 Jun 3-6	70	23	7
2002 May 28-29	77	17	6
2002 May 20-22	76	17	7
2002 May 6-9	76	19	5
2002 Apr 29-May 1	77	20	3
2002 Apr 22-24	77	17	6
2002 Apr 8-11	75	20	5
2002 Apr 5-7	76	19	5
2002 Mar 22-24	79	17	4
2002 Mar 18-20	79	16	5
2002 Mar 8-9	80	14	6
2002 Mar 4-7	77	18	5
2002 Mar 1-3	81	14	5
2002 Feb 8-10	82	14	4
2002 Feb 4-6	82	14	4
2002 Jan 25-27	84	13	3
2002 Jan 11-14	83	13	4
2002 Jan 7-9	84	12	4

2001
2001 Dec 14-16	86	11	3
2001 Dec 6-9	86	10	4
2001 Nov 26-27	87	8	5
2001 Nov 8-11	87	9	4
2001 Nov 2-4	87	9	4
2001 Oct 19-21	88	9	3
2001 Oct 11-14	89	8	3
2001 Oct 5-6	87	10	3
2001 Sep 21-22	90	6	4
2001 Sep 14-15	86	10	4
2001 Sep 7-10	51	39	10
2001 Aug 24-26	55	36	9
2001 Aug 16-19	57	34	9
2001 Aug 10-12	57	35	8
2001 Aug 3-5	55	35	10
2001 Jul 19-22	56	33	11
2001 Jul 10-11	57	35	8
2001 Jun 28-Jul 1	52	34	14
2001 Jun 11-17	55	33	12
2001 Jun 8-10	55	35	10
2001 May 18-20	56	36	8
2001 May 10-14	56	31	13
2001 May 7-9	53	33	14
2001 Apr 20-22	62	29	9
2001 Apr 6-8	59	30	11
2001 Mar 26-28	53	29	18
2001 Mar 9-11	58	29	13
2001 Mar 5-7	63	22	15
2001 Feb 19-21	62	21	17
2001 Feb 9-11	57	25	18
2001 Feb 1-4	57	25	18

Bush Job Approval: 31%

Survey Methods

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