Bush's disapproval worst of any president in 70 years

[chinthee]

WASHINGTON — President Bush has set a record he'd presumably prefer to avoid: the highest disapproval rating of any president in the 70-year history of the Gallup Poll.
In a USA TODAY/Gallup Poll taken Friday through Sunday, 28% of Americans approve of the job Bush is doing; 69% disapprove. The approval rating matches the low point of his presidency, and the disapproval sets a new high for any president since Franklin Roosevelt.

The previous record of 67% was reached by Harry Truman in January 1952, when the United States was enmeshed in the Korean War.
Bush's rating has worsened amid "collapsing optimism about the economy," says Charles Franklin, a political scientist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison who studies presidential approval. Record gas prices and a wave of home foreclosures have fueled voter angst.

Bush also holds the record for the other extreme: the highest approval rating of any president in Gallup's history. In September 2001, in the days after the 9/11 attacks, Bush's approval spiked to 90%. In another record, the percentage of Americans who say the invasion of Iraq was a mistake reached a new high, 63%, in the latest poll.

Assessments of Bush's presidency are harsh. By 69%-27%, those polled say Bush's tenure in general has been a failure, not a success.

Views of Bush divide sharply along party lines. Among Republicans, 66% approve and 32% disapprove. Disapproval is nearly universal — 91% — among Democrats. Of independents, 23% approve, 72% disapprove of the job he's doing.

Bush's disapproval worst of any president in 70 years - USATODAY.com

I'm sure as Bush wraps up his final few quarters in office, we'll start to see Presidential historians speculating on what Bush's legacy will be.

I have a feeling it ain't gonna be a pretty picture.

[Wallalai]

55555, and yank retards were able to vote for him two times in a row.

[Jet Gorgon]

And just how are the French doing these days?

[FayeQuarry]

George Bush Sr. is greatly respected in China and throughout Asia generally. It's quite tragic how the younger Bush has somehow sullied the Bush name in so many places around the world.

[Boon Mee]

Heh...& Tricky Dick was villified shortly before he left office but History has been kind to him in later years.

No..."Jimmah" is by far the worst president in recorded history...

[DrB0b]

Heh...& Tricky Dick was villified shortly before he left office but History has been kind to him in later years.

Not in the universe the rest of humanity lives in, Booner.

[qwerty]

Bush Sr. couldn't seem to get the economy going, but was otherwise a pretty good president. I just can't see Bush Jr. being viewed as anything but an unqualified failure.

I also think that he won BOTH elections through electoral fraud. I wouldn't be surprised if some programmer from DieboldPremier Election Solutions - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
starts to feel some remorse a few years down the line and confesses to falsifying the '04 vote in Bush's favor.

2004 United States presidential election controversy, voting machines - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[sabang]

Nixon and Carter are two Presidents that have probably been unfairly villified.

But you would have to live in a vaccuum to think history will smile on the Bush administration. Name one good thing they've achieved?

[Begbie]

Heh...& Tricky Dick was villified shortly before he left office but History has been kind to him in later years.

Not in the universe the rest of humanity lives in, Booner.

Boon Mee abducted by aliens again.

I work with a lot of Americans of extreme right wing persuasion. They all think GWB is a half wit.

[chinthee]

^^Yes, I agree with you, though more so in the case of Nixon, as I think he was more competent as a President than Carter. He will never live down the "Tricky Dicky" label though.

Carter always wins for having a good heart, but I don't think the world needs the leader of the free world's heart bleeding on their carpets.

[Wallalai]

And just how are the French doing these days?

You have to ask a french citizen, not me.

[barbaro]

I have a feeling it ain't gonna be a pretty picture.

I know the two elections he won were close - but GWB was still - elected 2 times.


The Americans got what they asked for.

[britmaveric]

I think history will show Pres Bush as very successful. Lincoln was despised in his time, but later showed to be one of the greatest yank pressies.

BTW what is lower than the pressie rating? CONGRESS.

[raycarey]

I think history will show Pres Bush as very successful.

of course you do.

so, who's going to add this gem to the 'wit and wisdom' thread?

[barbaro]

I think history will show Pres Bush as very successful. Lincoln was despised in his time, but later showed to be one of the greatest yank pressies.

One of GWB's many negatives (IMO) is his rampant spending. The national debt is at $9 Trillion.

The worse thing he's done IMO, is expand Medicare coverage. This may very likely break the nation.

His appointments have also been awful, IMO: State, DoD, DIA, CIA, etc.

BTW what is lower than the pressie rating? CONGRESS.

Congress has been complicit with GWB from the get go. Both parties have damaged the fiscal health of the nation. This all started, post WWII. But it's gotten worse in the last 25 years.

[britmaveric]

^Never commented on the Congress's rating Ray? Wonder why????

[barbaro]

^Never commented on the Congress's rating Ray? Wonder why????

Congress. President.


What is the difference?

I see corruption, mismanagement, and rampant spending by both.

[raycarey]

Never commented on the Congress's rating Ray? Wonder why????

because it's already been addressed elsewhere several times (at least). if congress had the stones to end the war, their polling numbers would be significantly higher.
but they don't have the courage to stand up to the phony patriots who will vilify them for doing what is right.

[John L]

Never commented on the Congress's rating Ray? Wonder why????

because it's already been addressed elsewhere several times (at least). if congress had the stones to end the war, their polling numbers would be significantly higher.
but they don't have the courage to stand up to the phony patriots who will vilify them for doing what is right.

If congress had "the stones" to do what you suggest, most of them in an unsafe district, who voted for that, would be out on their asses next time around, that's why. Like Wall Street, Capital Hill is rulled by two things. Unlike the former, which is "greed" and "fear", the later is "Power" and "fear".

You should learn to realize this sometime.

[raycarey]

If congress had "the stones" to do what you suggest, most of them in an unsafe district, who voted for that, would be out on their asses next time around, that's why. Like Wall Street, Capital Hill is rulled by two things. Unlike the former, which is "greed" and "fear", the later is "Power" and "fear".

what's your point john....oh, i see...you're just repeating the point i made.

[sabang]

the later is "Power" and "fear".

A better way to put it is 'transmission of Power', if I may be a little picky. The Bush administration has proved to be an abject modern day clinic in how Not to transmit Power. Thus the rest of the Worlds 'Fear' and respect of US (and by association, Western) Power has declined as a result.

[buad hai]

Tricky Dick was villified shortly before he left office but History has been kind to him in later years.

Interesting though that much of the "good" that he has been credited with are things that the Democrats had advocated for a long time:

- Social Security benefit reform
- The Federalization of welfare
- Recognition of "Red" China
- Negotiation with Hanoi to end the Vietnam quagmire

In the end, Nixon was a man without either political or moral values. He did the things he did not because he believed they were right but because he thought they would bring him or allow him to maintain power.

Pretty hard to figure what to make of a guy whose idea of a good time was to walk down the beach in San Clemente wearing leather dress shoes and a tailored suit....

[chinthee]

I think one of Bush's most enduring legacies will be how he stretched (probably abused?) Executive Power to its absolute limits. He's shown that with the Iraq war, warrantless eavesdropping and a number of other policies.

The Constitution says that the president shall exercise the "Executive Power" and shall be commander in chief of the armed forces, but it doesn't spell out what those powers are. Some presidents have come up with what they call the "inherent power" of the presidency, which tends to be what they make it.

Historians have said that President Lincoln freed the slaves, blockaded Southern ports, and instituted a draft all without constitutional authority. President Reagan invoked "inherent powers" to justify the illegal sale of missiles to Iran and the illegal financing of the civil war in Nicaragua. Short of impeachment, the Congress has no way of stopping a willful president except to deny him funds. And, we've all seen what this congress has done.

I've always believed in the brilliance of the US Constitution and the separation of powers. However, rather than preserve the system of checks and balances, GWB seems to have tipped the scales to the Executive Branch, one year at a time, under the guise of the War on Terror.

I don't think any President should have this much power, no matter what his political views.

[sabang]

^ I totally agree CT, very good post.

[raycarey]

I think one of Bush's most enduring legacies will be how he stretched (probably abused?) Executive Power to its absolute limits.

GWB seems to have tipped the scales to the Executive Branch

while it was the bush administration, with a bit of research you'll find that it was cheney who is responsible for this, and IMO it is he who will be remembered for it. bush was merely along for the ride on this issue....and enjoyed the benefits.

cheney's MO has been to push things further than anyone has before, and if half of it gets slapped down by the supreme court, well...he still got half.

his obsession goes back to when he was emasculated during the ford administration.