Bush Job Approval Rating: Little Difference Among Whites, Hispanics

GALLUP NEWS SERVICE

PRINCETON, NJ -- There is little difference in President George W. Bush's job approval rating between Hispanics and non-Hispanic whites, despite the fact that Hispanics in the United States today are significantly less likely than non-Hispanic whites to identify with the Republican Party. The president's job approval rating among blacks, few of whom are Republicans, is extremely low.

These results are based on interviews conducted as part of Gallup's Minority Rights and Relations survey, which includes large representative samples of blacks and Hispanics. The poll was conducted June 4-24, 2007.

Bush's job approval rating among non-Hispanic whites in the poll is 32%. Among Hispanics, including those for whom Spanish is their preferred language, Bush's job approval is 29%. Only 8% of blacks in the poll approve of Bush's performance as president.

This pattern of similarity between whites and Hispanics in Bush job approval has been evident for the most part over the past six years in the annual Gallup Minority Rights and Relations survey. The only exception was in June 2004 when Bush's job approval ratings among Hispanics were significantly lower than among whites.

Within the same poll, party identification breaks out among the three groups as follows:

The data indicate that the profile of party identification within Hispanics is significantly different from non-Hispanic whites, with substantially fewer Republicans and more independents. Still, Hispanics' approval of Bush's job performance is quite similar among whites and Hispanics, as noted.

One of the reasons for the similarity in job approval ratings between whites and Hispanics is that Hispanic Democrats are much more charitable than white Democrats in their evaluations of Bush. According to the poll, 20% of Hispanic Democrats approve of Bush, compared with just 3% of white Democrats. Six percent of black Democrats approve of Bush.

An analysis of various subgroups of Hispanics within the sample indicates little difference in Bush job approval regardless of language of interview, age, or education:

Bottom Line

President Bush gets a break of sorts from Hispanics, whose approval of the job he is doing as president is higher than would be expected based on their party identification. Hispanics who identify as Democrats are somewhat more positive about Bush than is the case among either white or black Democrats, resulting in the higher presidential job approval rating among Hispanics.

Survey Methods

These results are based on telephone interviews with a randomly selected national sample of 2,388 adults, aged 18 and older, conducted June 4-24, 2007. The sample includes oversamples of 802 blacks and 502 Hispanics that are weighted to their proper proportion in the U.S. population. For results based on the total sample, one can say with 95% confidence that the maximum error attributable to sampling and other random effects is ±5 percentage points.

For results based on the sample of 868 non-Hispanic whites, the maximum margin of sampling error is ±7 percentage points.

For results based on the sample of 802 non-Hispanic blacks, the maximum margin of sampling error is ±6 percentage points.

For results based on the sample of 502 Hispanics, the maximum margin of sampling error is ±6 percentage points.

For results based on the sample of 1,461 Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents, the maximum margin of sampling error is ±7 percentage points.

For results based on the sample of 408 non-Hispanic white Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents, the maximum margin of sampling error is ±10 percentage points.

For results based on the sample of 635 non-Hispanic black Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents, the maximum margin of sampling error is ±7 percentage points.

For results based on the sample of 298 Hispanic Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents, the maximum margin of sampling error is ±8 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.