July 29, 2005
Bush Approval at 44%
Lowest measurement of his presidency
by Jeffrey M. Jones
PRINCETON, NJ -- A new Gallup Poll finds a decline in George W. Bush's job approval rating. After standing at 49% approval in the prior two CNN/USA Today/Gallup polls conducted this month, now just 44% of Americans say they approve of Bush, a new low mark for the president.
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Recent Gallup Polls have shown growing positive momentum for the Democratic Party, even while Bush's ratings were somewhat higher. For example, the July 22-24 CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll found 52% of Americans rating the Democratic Party favorably, while just 46% give a favorable rating to the Republican Party. When the question was last asked in April, each party was rated favorably by 50% of Americans.
http://www.gallup.com/poll/content/default.aspx?ci=17584
I believe this may be a bit of an overshoot downward by Gallup, but it could very well be real. But it goes along with Bush's polling 'ceiling', the rating he gets on "handling terrorism", which gets hit and then falls some amount every time there's a major Al Qaeda attack.
The New York attack (9/11) made his numbers hit ~92%, then his 'ceiling' declined to 68%.
The Madrid attack last year had him hit the 68% 'ceiling', then a fall off in it happened to ~57%.
This is the aftermath of the London attack(s). His ratings spiked to the mid-fifties for about a single day on July 7 and the collapse right thereafter in 'handling terrorism' was to ~49%.
This present and the just previous (July 22-24) Gallup poll could be showing a similar, smaller, effect of the botched second attack in London on July 22- a peaking at 49% for a day and a further fall of the 'ceiling'....