skip to main content
Bush Job Approval at 28%, Tied for Lowest of Administration

Bush Job Approval at 28%, Tied for Lowest of Administration

President’s approval numbers static for the last two months

PRINCETON, NJ -- President George W. Bush's job approval rating in the latest USA Today/Gallup poll, conducted May 30-June 1, is at 28%, essentially where it has been for the last two months, and tied for the lowest of his administration. Bush's disapproval rating is at 68%, one point off the highest such reading in Gallup history.

Bush's job approval ratings, already low as the year began, have been in a slight decline since January. Bush averaged 33% in three polls conducted in January, but in the five latest polls conducted in April and May, he has received four 28% ratings and one 29%.

The lowest job approval rating in Gallup's history is 22%, recorded by Harry Truman in 1952. The only other president to score lower than 28% was Richard Nixon in 1973 and 1974 (although Jimmy Carter also received a 28% rating in 1979).

A little less than seven years ago, in September 2001, Bush's job approval rating was 90%, the highest in Gallup Poll history. The 62-point swing between Bush's high point and his low point is reminiscent of the drop suffered by Truman, who received an 87% approval rating in 1945 shortly after he took office after Franklin Roosevelt's death, and by Bush's father, George H.W. Bush, whose approval rating dropped from 89% in February and March 1991 to 29% by the summer of 1992.

Survey Methods

Results are based on telephone interviews with 1,012 national adults, aged 18 and older, conducted May 30-June 1, 2008. For results based on the total sample of national adults, one can say with 95% confidence that the maximum margin of sampling error is ±3 percentage points.

Interviews are conducted with respondents on land-line telephones (for respondents with a land-line telephone) and cellular phones (for respondents who are cell-phone only).

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.

To provide feedback or suggestions about how to improve Gallup.com, please e-mail feedback@gallup.com.


Gallup https://news.gallup.com/poll/107632/Bush-Job-Approval-28-Tied-Lowest-Administration.aspx
Gallup World Headquarters, 901 F Street, Washington, D.C., 20001, U.S.A
+1 202.715.3030