GALLUP NEWS SERVICE
PRINCETON, NJ -- President George W. Bush's approval rating was at 51% in a Gallup Poll conducted Sept. 7-10 and completed just before the tragic events of Tuesday. This rating was down some from Bush's recent average, which had been in the mid-50% range. The poll also showed that overall satisfaction with the way things are going in the United States was down significantly and that most of Gallup's measures of the public's perception of the economy had reached new lows for recent years.
There has been speculation about the impact of the terrorist attacks on the public's mood and perceptions of both Bush and the country as a whole. Typically, an event in which the United States or its armed forces come into danger or conflict translates into a short-term rally effect in which presidential approval ratings increase. Polling in the next several days will determine whether or not the phenomenon occurs in this situation. What the weekend poll does show, however, is that the American public's confidence in the economy, satisfaction with the way things were going, and overall satisfaction with Bush were slipping before the watershed events of Tuesday.
A complete analysis of the weekend data on the public's perception of the economy will be posted here on gallup.com on Thursday night.
Here is the trend on Bush job approval.
Do you approve or disapprove of the way George W. Bush is handling his job as president?
|
Approve |
Disapprove |
No opinion |
|
|
(NA) 2001 Sep 7-10 |
51 |
39 |
10 |
|
(NA) 2001 Aug 24-26 |
55 |
36 |
9 |
|
(NA) 2001 Aug 16-19 |
57 |
34 |
9 |
|
(NA) 2001 Aug 10-12 |
57 |
35 |
8 |
|
(NA) 2001 Aug 3-5 |
55 |
35 |
10 |
|
(NA) 2001 Jul 19-22 |
56 |
33 |
11 |
|
(NA) 2001 Jul 10-11 |
57 |
35 |
8 |
|
(NA) 2001 Jun 28-Jul 1 |
52 |
34 |
14 |
|
(NA) 2001 Jun 11-17 |
55 |
33 |
12 |
|
(NA) 2001 Jun 8-10 |
55 |
35 |
10 |
|
(NA) 2001 May 18-20 |
56 |
36 |
8 |
|
(NA) 2001 May 10-14 |
56 |
31 |
13 |
|
(NA) 2001 May 7-9 |
53 |
33 |
14 |
|
(NA) 2001 Apr 20-22 |
62 |
29 |
9 |
|
(NA) 2001 Apr 6-8 |
59 |
30 |
11 |
|
(NA) 2001 Mar 26-28 |
53 |
29 |
18 |
|
(NA) 2001 Mar 9-11 |
58 |
29 |
13 |
|
(NA) 2001 Mar 5-7 |
63 |
22 |
15 |
|
(NA) 2001 Feb 19-21 |
62 |
21 |
17 |
|
(NA) 2001 Feb 9-11 |
57 |
25 |
18 |
|
(NA) 2001 Feb 1-4 |
57 |
25 |
18 |
Survey Methods
These results are based on telephone interviews with a randomly selected national sample of 1,004 adults, 18 years and older, conducted Sept. 7-10, 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.
