GALLUP NEWS SERVICE
PRINCETON, NJ – A recent CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll shows that Americans continue to view President George W. Bush positively on a number of dimensions, including his performance as president, his personal characteristics, and overall evaluations of him. Nearly eight in 10 Americans say they have a favorable opinion of Bush, and 77% approve of the way he is handling his job as president. At least a majority of Americans give him positive ratings on a long list of personal characteristics. While Bush's approval and favorability ratings have shown inevitable decline from their high points that occurred after Sept. 11, ratings of the president's personal characteristics have shown little change in recent months.
The poll, conducted, April 29-May 1, finds that 79% of Americans have a favorable opinion of Bush while 19% have an unfavorable opinion. This is down slightly from Bush's personal high rating of 87% last November and an 83% rating in January, but is the third highest rating for Bush since he arrived on the national political scene in 1999.
| Opinion of George W. Bush |
 |
| Note: Sep – Nov, 2000: asked of registered voters |
Bush's job approval has remained in the mid-to-high 70s over the last two months, after being in the low 80s throughout January and February. Bush's job approval has shown a gradual decline from a high of 90% in a Sept. 21-22, 2001 poll. Even with the decline, Bush's current job approval ratings still rank among the highest in Gallup's polling history.
Personal Characteristics Show Little Change
Gallup's most recent poll asked the public to rate Bush on each of 13 personal characteristics. At least a majority says each of the characteristics applies to Bush. Bush's strengths appear to be his leadership qualities and his honesty, as the vast majority of the public believes he "provides good moral leadership" (84%), "is a strong and decisive leader" (77%), "is honest and trustworthy" (77%), and "is sincere in what he says" (76%). One relative weakness for Bush is that only a slim majority (54%) believes he is "not a typical politician."
|
RATINGS OF GEORGE W. BUSH'S QUALITIES AND CHARACTERISTICS |
||
|
2002 Apr 29-May 1 |
|
Doesn't apply |
|
% |
% |
|
|
Provides good moral leadership |
84 |
15 |
|
Is a strong and decisive leader |
77 |
21 |
|
Is honest and trustworthy |
77 |
20 |
|
Is sincere in what he says |
76 |
21 |
|
Can manage the government effectively |
75 |
21 |
|
Works well with both parties to get things done in Washington |
73 |
23 |
|
Puts the country's interests ahead of his own political interests |
72 |
22 |
|
Understands complex issues |
68 |
27 |
|
Shares your values |
67 |
30 |
|
Cares about the needs of people like you |
66 |
31 |
|
Is a person you admire |
64 |
33 |
|
Generally agrees with you on issues you care about (other than terrorism) |
64 |
33 |
|
Is not a typical politician |
54 |
41 |
Bush's ratings on many of the personal characteristics show little change from October, a time when his job approval rating was 10 points higher than it is now. When Bush's characteristics were measured then, most showed rather large positive gains from the previous, pre-Sept. 11 measurements, with most increasing at least 10 percentage points.
Looking at the six characteristics asked both now and last October, only one ("sincere in what he says") shows substantial decline, an eight-point drop from 84% to 76%. The ratings on the other characteristics have changed very little, and two actually show slightly more positive ratings now than in October.
|
CHANGE IN RATINGS OF BUSH'S PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS, OCT 2001-MAY 2002 |
|||
|
|
|
Change |
|
|
% |
% |
||
|
Is a strong and decisive leader |
75 |
77 |
+2 |
|
Is sincere in what he says |
84 |
76 |
-8 |
|
Can manage the government effectively |
79 |
75 |
-4 |
|
Understands complex issues |
69 |
68 |
-1 |
|
Cares about the needs of people like you |
69 |
66 |
-3 |
|
Generally agrees with you on issues you care about other than terrorism |
60 |
64 |
+4 |
Five of the characteristics were measured at earlier time points, and all show significant positive gains similar to what was observed in October for the characteristics discussed above, with gains exceeding 10 percentage points.
|
CHANGE IN RATINGS OF BUSH'S PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS, 2000 TO 2002 |
|||
|
|
|
Change |
|
|
% |
% |
||
|
Shares your values |
56 (Aug '01) |
67 |
+11 |
|
Is honest and trustworthy |
66 (July '01) |
77 |
+11 |
|
Is a person you admire |
49 (Feb '01) |
64 |
+15 |
|
(Would) work(s) well with both parties to get things done in Washington |
55 (Feb '00) |
73 |
+18 |
|
Is not a typical politician |
35 (Feb ‘00) |
54 |
+19 |
Survey Methods
These results are based on telephone interviews with a randomly selected national sample of 1,002 adults, 18 years and older, conducted April 29-May 1, 2002. 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.
Thinking about the following characteristics and qualities, please say whether you think it applies or doesn't apply to George W. Bush. How about – [ROTATED]?
Shares your values
|
Applies |
Doesn't apply |
No opinion |
|
|
% |
% |
% |
|
|
2002 Apr 29-May 1 |
67 |
30 |
3 |
|
2001 Aug 10-12 |
56 |
41 |
3 |
|
2001 Jul 10-11 |
56 |
40 |
4 |
|
2001 Apr 20-22 |
58 |
39 |
3 |
|
2001 Feb 9-11 |
57 |
39 |
4 |
|
2000 Mar 10-12 |
52 |
41 |
7 |
|
2000 Jan 17-19 |
55 |
32 |
13 |
|
1999 Sep 10-14 |
56 |
34 |
10 |
|
1999 Mar 12-14 |
58 |
31 |
11 |
Cares about the needs of people like you
|
Applies |
Doesn't apply |
No opinion |
|
|
% |
% |
% |
|
|
2002 Apr 29-May 1 |
66 |
31 |
3 |
|
2001 Oct 5-6 |
69 |
29 |
2 |
|
2001 Jul 10-11 |
57 |
40 |
3 |
|
2001 Apr 20-22 |
59 |
39 |
2 |
|
2001 Feb 9-11 |
56 |
39 |
5 |
|
2000 Mar 10-12 |
51 |
42 |
7 |
|
2000 Jan 17-19 |
56 |
33 |
11 |
|
1999 Sep 10-14 |
59 |
32 |
9 |
|
1999 Mar 12-14 |
59 |
32 |
9 |
Is a strong and decisive leader
|
Applies |
Doesn't apply |
No opinion |
|
|
% |
% |
% |
|
|
2002 Apr 29-May 1 |
77 |
21 |
2 |
|
2001 Oct 5-6 |
75 |
23 |
2 |
|
2001 Aug 10-12 |
55 |
43 |
2 |
|
2001 Jul 10-11 |
57 |
40 |
3 |
|
2001 Apr 20-22 |
60 |
37 |
3 |
|
2001 Feb 9-11 |
61 |
34 |
5 |
|
2000 Mar 10-12 |
63 |
30 |
7 |
|
2000 Feb 25-27 |
61 |
32 |
7 |
|
2000 Feb 20-21 |
58 |
33 |
9 |
|
2000 Feb 4-6 |
62 |
30 |
8 |
|
2000 Jan 17-19 |
66 |
24 |
10 |
|
1999 Mar 4 |
60 |
14 |
26 |
Generally agrees with you on issues you care about, other than terrorism
BASED ON --487-- NATIONAL ADULTS
|
Applies |
Doesn't apply |
No opinion |
|
|
% |
% |
% |
|
|
2002 Apr 29-May 1 |
64 |
32 |
4 |
|
2001 Oct 5-6 |
60 |
36 |
4 |
Generally agrees with you on issues you care about
BASED ON --515-- NATIONAL ADULTS
|
Applies |
Doesn't apply |
No opinion |
|
|
% |
% |
% |
|
|
2002 Apr 29-May 1 |
64 |
33 |
3 |
|
2001 Feb 9-11 |
53 |
43 |
4 |
|
2000 Mar 10-12 |
49 |
44 |
7 |
|
2000 Feb 25-27 |
51 |
41 |
8 |
|
1999 Mar 12-14 |
54 |
35 |
11 |
COMBINED RESPONSES
|
Applies |
Doesn't apply |
No opinion |
|
|
% |
% |
% |
|
|
2002 Apr 29-May 1 |
64 |
33 |
3 |
Understands complex issues
|
Applies |
Doesn't apply |
No opinion |
|
|
% |
% |
% |
|
|
2002 Apr 29-May 1 |
68 |
27 |
5 |
|
2001 Oct 5-6 |
69 |
27 |
4 |
|
2001 Apr 20-22 |
56 |
38 |
6 |
|
2001 Feb 9-11 |
55 |
38 |
7 |
|
2000 Jan 17-19 |
60 |
26 |
14 |
Is sincere in what he says
|
Applies |
Doesn't apply |
No opinion |
|
|
% |
% |
% |
|
|
2002 Apr 29-May 1 |
76 |
21 |
3 |
|
2001 Oct 5-6 |
84 |
15 |
1 |
|
2001 Aug 10-12 |
66 |
31 |
3 |
Can manage the government effectively
|
Applies |
Doesn't apply |
No opinion |
|
|
% |
% |
% |
|
|
2002 Apr 29-May 1 |
75 |
21 |
4 |
|
2001 Oct 5-6 |
79 |
19 |
2 |
|
2001 Feb 9-11 |
61 |
31 |
8 |
|
2000 Mar 10-12 |
64 |
28 |
8 |
|
2000 Jan 17-19 |
66 |
22 |
12 |
|
1999 Sep 10-14 |
72 |
19 |
9 |
|
1999 Mar 12-14 |
77 |
15 |
8 |
Is honest and trustworthy
|
Applies |
Doesn't apply |
No opinion |
|
|
% |
% |
% |
|
|
2002 Apr 29-May 1 |
77 |
20 |
3 |
|
2001 Jul 10-11 |
66 |
31 |
3 |
|
2001 Apr 20-22 |
67 |
29 |
4 |
|
2001 Feb 9-11 |
64 |
29 |
7 |
|
2000 Mar 10-12 |
64 |
28 |
8 |
|
1999 Sep 10-12 |
62 |
29 |
9 |
Is a person you admire
|
Applies |
Doesn't apply |
No opinion |
|
|
% |
% |
% |
|
|
2002 Apr 29-May 1 |
64 |
33 |
3 |
|
2001 Feb 9-11 |
49 |
47 |
4 |
|
2000 Feb 20-21 |
45 |
49 |
6 |
Works well with both parties to get things done in Washington
|
Applies |
Doesn't apply |
No opinion |
|
|
% |
% |
% |
|
|
2002 Apr 29-May 1 |
73 |
23 |
4 |
|
2000 Feb 25-27 |
55 |
37 |
8 |
Is not a typical politician
|
Applies |
Doesn't apply |
No opinion |
|
|
% |
% |
% |
|
|
2002 Apr 29-May 1 |
54 |
41 |
5 |
|
2000 Feb 25-27 |
35 |
59 |
6 |
|
2000 Feb 20-21 |
36 |
58 |
6 |
|
1999 Mar 12-14 |
41 |
53 |
6 |
Puts the country's interests ahead of his own political interests
|
Applies |
Doesn't apply |
No opinion |
|
|
% |
% |
% |
|
|
2002 Apr 29-May 1 |
72 |
22 |
6 |
Provides good moral leadership
|
Applies |
Doesn't apply |
No opinion |
|
|
% |
% |
% |
|
|
2002 Apr 29-May 1 |
84 |
15 |
1 |
