GALLUP NEWS SERVICE
PRINCETON, NJ -- President George W. Bush's job approval rating continues to rest at one of the highest levels recorded by any president since Gallup began asking the question in the 1930s, with 76% of Americans saying they approve of the way Bush is handling his job and just 17% saying they disapprove.
| George W. Bush's Job Approval Rating |
 |
The Gallup poll that measured this rating also shows that the positive assessment appears to be based mostly on feelings people have about Bush's general performance rather than on feelings about any specific actions he has taken. Similarly, negative assessments of Bush tend to be justified more on general rather than specific points. Revelations that the Bush administration knew of the possibility of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks appear not to have hurt the president's image among the American people.
Approval
Bush's approval rating jumped 35 percentage points right after the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, from 51% to 86%, and it has remained well above the 70% level ever since. Thus, it might be reasonable to assume that a major factor contributing to his high approval rating has been the way Bush has dealt with the war on terrorism. But the poll, conducted May 20-22, finds that just 16% of respondents who approved of his job performance say their approval is based on the way he has handled the 9/11 attacks and subsequent war on terrorism. The largest plurality of respondents, 40%, offer some version of a more general reason -- that Bush is "doing a good job." Another 5% give no reason, suggesting that close to half of Americans who give Bush positive ratings just generally like the way he is performing but cannot cite any specific reason.
The other half of those who approve of Bush, however, offer a combination of reasons that can be roughly divided into policy evaluation and character traits. Overall, 31% of respondents who approve do so because of Bush's policies, including the way he has handled the war on terrorism (16%), his general straightforward approach to handling issues (6%), his foreign policy (2%), and the fact that he "hasn't made any mistakes" (2%). Another 20% of respondents cite certain traits of Bush that they like, such as his high moral values and honesty (9%) and his strong leadership (6%).
Why do you approve of the way Bush is handling his job as president? [Open-ended]
BASED ON -- 772 -- WHO APPROVE OF BUSH
|
May |
Jun 28- |
Mar |
||
|
% |
% |
% |
||
|
1 |
Satisfied/Agree with what he's doing/doing a good job |
40 |
30 |
22 |
|
2 |
Approve handling of 9/11 and war on terrorism |
16 |
-- |
-- |
|
3 |
Good values/moral/honest/good character |
9 |
9 |
-- |
|
4 |
Strong leader |
6 |
-- |
-- |
|
5 |
Like his approach/how he deals with things/straightforward |
6 |
9 |
-- |
|
6 |
Knowledgeable |
2 |
2 |
-- |
|
7 |
Approve of his foreign policy |
2 |
3 |
-- |
|
8 |
Hasn't made any mistakes |
2 |
7 |
-- |
|
9 |
Better than Bill Clinton |
1 |
6 |
4 |
|
10 |
Chose good advisors/Cabinet |
1 |
2 |
3 |
|
11 |
Conservative |
1 |
2 |
-- |
|
12 |
Agree with economic policies/approve of handling economy |
1 |
2 |
3 |
|
13 |
Returning dignity to the White House |
1 |
1 |
-- |
|
14 |
Concern for people/cares about people/does what is best for U.S. |
1 |
2 |
1 |
|
15 |
Agree with his tax plan |
* |
4 |
8 |
|
16 |
Fulfilling his promises/campaign promises |
* |
3 |
7 |
|
Willing to give him a chance |
-- |
1 |
-- |
|
|
Honest/trustworthy/Man of integrity |
-- |
-- |
10 |
|
|
Approve of his style/Balance/Moderate approach |
-- |
-- |
8 |
|
|
Voted for him/Republican |
-- |
-- |
6 |
|
|
Accomplishing things/getting things done |
-- |
-- |
5 |
|
|
Appears confident/in control |
-- |
-- |
4 |
|
|
Agree with his policies in general |
-- |
-- |
4 |
|
|
No scandals |
-- |
-- |
1 |
|
|
Everything |
1 |
1 |
-- |
|
|
None |
1 |
2 |
3 |
|
|
Other |
5 |
4 |
4 |
|
|
No opinion |
4 |
10 |
7 |
Previous results also show that large numbers of respondents do not give specific reasons for their approval of Bush's performance. The specific reasons from previous polls differ, however, as these polls were conducted before the 9/11 attacks.
Disapproval
About three in 10 of those who disapprove of Bush's performance give fairly general, non-specific reasons. Twenty-four percent just mention that Bush is doing a poor job, and another 6% offer no reason.
The war on terrorism prompts the greatest disapproval. Of those who disapprove of Bush's performance, 15% say it's because of the way he has handled the war on terrorism, and another 13% say it's because he knew about the possibility of terrorist attacks before they actually occurred. Related to these two issues, 9% mention Bush's handling of foreign policy as the reason they disapprove of the president's performance.
Although the news media have given extensive coverage to the revelations that the Bush administration had received warnings about the attacks before Sept. 11, the poll suggests that the issue has not hurt Bush's image among the American people. The president's overall job approval rating is unchanged since the revelations, and, as noted above, only a small number of those who disapprove of Bush's performance explicitly mention his prior knowledge of the possibility of attacks.
Very few of the people who disapprove of Bush mention his personal characteristics as a reason for their feelings. Just 4% say they disapprove because Bush is not knowledgeable, 2% because he is untrustworthy, and less than 1% because he is wishy-washy.
Why do you disapprove of the way Bush is handling his job as president? [Open-ended]
BASED ON -- 177 -- WHO DISAPPROVE OF BUSH
|
May |
Jun 28- |
Mar |
|||
|
% |
% |
% |
|||
|
1 |
Dissatisfied/Disagree with what he is doing/Doing a poor job |
24 |
34 |
10 |
|
|
2 |
Disapprove of handling of 9/11 and war on terrorism |
15 |
-- |
-- |
|
|
3 |
Feel he knew about 9/11 before it happened |
13 |
-- |
-- |
|
|
4 |
Disapprove of his foreign policy/handling foreign affairs |
9 |
4 |
3 |
|
|
5 |
Disapprove of his economic policies/handling the economy |
5 |
3 |
9 |
|
|
6 |
Not knowledgeable |
4 |
13 |
5 |
|
|
7 |
Too conservative |
3 |
2 |
-- |
|
|
8 |
Caters to the rich/big business |
3 |
4 |
7 |
|
|
9 |
Elected in a flawed election/stole the election/not legally president |
2 |
3 |
3 |
|
|
10 |
Untrustworthy |
2 |
3 |
2 |
|
|
11 |
Favors the rich/not for average or poor people |
1 |
4 |
-- |
|
|
12 |
Disapprove of his environmental policies |
1 |
8 |
8 |
|
|
13 |
Failing to fulfill his campaign promises |
1 |
3 |
8 |
|
|
14 |
Wishy-washy/Doesn't hold firm |
* |
1 |
-- |
|
|
Disagree with his tax plan |
-- |
3 |
13 |
||
|
Disapprove of his energy policies |
-- |
3 |
-- |
||
|
Disapprove of his health care policies |
-- |
2 |
-- |
||
|
Disapprove of his handling of Social Security |
-- |
1 |
-- |
||
|
Don't agree with his policies in general |
-- |
-- |
11 |
||
|
Didn't vote for him/Democrat |
-- |
-- |
7 |
||
|
Hasn't accomplished much |
-- |
-- |
1 |
||
|
None |
1 |
-- |
* |
||
|
Everything |
2 |
* |
1 |
||
|
Other |
9 |
5 |
6 |
||
|
No opinion |
5 |
4 |
6 |
||
Survey Methods
These results are based on telephone interviews with a randomly selected national sample of 1,002 adults, 18 years and older, conducted May 20-22, 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. For results based on the sample of -- 772 -- adults who approve of the way Bush is handling his job as president, the maximum margin of sampling error is ±4 percentage points.For results based on the sample of -- 177 -- adults who disapprove of the way Bush is handling his job as president, 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.
