Bush Sinks in Harris Poll
Posted on August 25, 2005
The Wall Street Journal reports that a new Harris Poll shows that President Bush' approval ratings are the lowest yet of his presidency. Only 40% of American adults approve of the way President Bush is doing his job; 58% of Americans disapprove.
This is a decline from two months ago, when the president's ratings were 45% positive and 55% negative. The war in Iraq and the economy climbed to the top of a list of issues Americans say are most important for the U.S. to address. Social Security declined sharply.The American people want to trust their president when it comes to the reasons for going to war. But no WMD have been found. London has been attacked, although they're "fighting them there so they don't have to fight them at home", and there appears to be no Iraqi George Washington riding up on an Arabian stallion to fight for a democratic constitution that guarantees a secular government and equal rights for women. To make things worse, Iraq -- although sitting on a sea of oil second in size only to that of Saudi Arabia -- isn't exporting oil right now because of insurgent attacks on the pieplines. And pump prices in the U.S. are edging towards $3/gallon. Look for those aproval numbers to continue to fall as the body count and oil prices both continue to rise.At the same time, Vice President Dick Cheney's approval ratings slipped to 35% from 38% in June, while Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld's approval ratings dropped to 40% from 42%. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is the only cabinet member whose approval ratings rose, to 57% from 52% in June.
***
Americans were also asked in the poll to name the two most important issues that the U.S. government needs to address. When considering the most important issues, 41% of those polled say the war is most important, sharply higher than 24% in June. The second most important issue is the economy, the poll showed.