Ratings of Cheney, Rumsfeld Sinking to New Depths

GALLUP NEWS SERVICE

PRINCETON, NJ -- The sour public mood that has led to decreases in ratings of the president, Congress, and overall national satisfaction is seemingly sparing no one affiliated with the Republican Party. The public's ratings of Vice President Dick Cheney and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld have hit new lows. Americans' views of key Bush adviser Karl Rove have also been increasingly negative. Very few Democrats or independents have favorable impressions of Cheney, Rumsfeld, or Rove.

An April 28-30 USA Today/Gallup poll finds just 34% of Americans with a favorable opinion of Cheney. His previous low rating was 41% in December. Sixty-two percent now have an unfavorable opinion of the vice president.

Rumsfeld's ratings are similarly negative -- 37% view him favorably and 57% unfavorably. His favorable rating has dropped five percentage points from its previous low in December, while his unfavorable rating has jumped 12 points during that time.

By comparison, George W. Bush's current favorable rating is 39% -- also the worst of his presidency. Sixty percent give Bush an unfavorable rating. Bush's favorable rating -- which is intended to measure respondents' basic opinions of him -- is slightly better than his approval rating (31%), which is designed to measure evaluations of his performance in office.

Both Cheney's and Rumsfeld's favorable ratings have followed courses similar to Bush's. Americans rallied behind their government in the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, and as a result, government leaders received very positive ratings during that time. Cheney's favorable rating peaked at 67% in January 2002 and Rumsfeld's at 67% in July 2002 (the first time it was measured). Since then, ratings of both men have steadily declined, with both losing at least 30 points in their favorable ratings. Cheney's ratings turned more positive following the 2004 election, but began to decline again by the summer of 2005.

Cheney and Rumsfeld have thus far survived the recent White House shake-up, even though several retired military generals called for Rumsfeld's ouster. Rove was not as fortunate, having his duties as a national policy adviser taken away but still maintaining his role as a political adviser to Bush.

Rove's favorable ratings have never been particularly high -- in fact, his most positive score to date was 25% in July 2005 (compared with the current 22%). Initially, that was mostly due to a high proportion of Americans not having an opinion of him. But his negatives have steadily increased, from 34% in July 2005 to 50% now. Special prosecutors are still investigating Rove's involvement in leaks of classified information by the White House that led to the indictment of former Cheney aide I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby.

Republicans, naturally, give higher ratings to Cheney, Rumsfeld, Bush, and Rove than do Democrats or independents. At least 7 in 10 Republicans have favorable opinions of Bush (86%), Cheney (75%), and Rumsfeld (70%). However, relatively few independents or Democrats have positive views of these men. Fewer than one in five Democrats have favorable views of any of the four, and only as many as 27% of independents do.

Survey Methods

These results are based on telephone interviews with a randomly selected national sample of 1,011 national adults, aged 18 and older, conducted April 28-30, 2006. For results based on this sample, one can say with 95% confidence that the maximum error attributable to sampling and other random effects 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.

6. Next, we'd like to get your overall opinion of some people in the news. As I read each name, please say if you have a favorable or unfavorable opinion of these people -- or if you have never heard of them. First, ... How about ... [ITEM A READ, THEN ITEMS B-D ROTATED, THEN ITEM E-F ROTATED]

A. George W. Bush

B. Dick Cheney

C. Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld

D. Presidential adviser, Karl Rove