Think about that.
It's been almost 21 months since our unqualified chief executive can honestly claim support from a majority of the American people. With this imminent surge/escalation of the Iraq quagmire, I suspect he will never see fifty again and may have a tough time cracking the 40% mark. When it comes to catering to his actual base (war profiteers, big business), Bush is pretty successful, but I can't name you a single thing he's done in his Presidency that made life for a majority of Americans better. Not one thing.
No wonder House Republicans have split asunder when faced with the strong Democratic majority and the first Hundred Hours. There is a lot of indecision in the Republican camp right now. Do they "stay the course" with their failed President or do they turn on him in an effort to save themselves?
Let's look at a timeline of events that have taken place since May 5, 2005 which sunk perhaps the worst President in history. (Note: the Terri Schiavo controversy took place before 5/5/05).
June 30, 2005: CAFTA is passed by Congress. Another free-trade agreement shatters the American middle-class who continue to see their jobs disappear. CAFTA is a major issue in congressional races in North Carolina and Indiana, where four incumbent Republicans lost their seats. A month later, the President signs CAFTA into law. (Bush approval rating: 44%)
July 7, 2005: The London Underground bombings. People starting thinking that our subways could be bombed too, so we're really being offered little protection anyways. (Bush approval rating: 43%)
August 29, 2005: Hurricane Katrina. Bush fiddled on his guitar while eighteen hundred died on the Gulf Coast and in New Orleans' raging floodwaters. Enough said. Michael Brown also did a heck of a job. (Bush approval rating: 40%)
September 28, 2005: Tom DeLay is indicted, exposing more Republican corruption. (Bush approval rating: 37%)
October 26, 2005: The American death toll in Iraq hits 2,000. (Bush approval rating: 39%)
December 2005: The American people discover that the NSA has secretly wiretapped millions of phones and collected the bank information of millions more. (Bush approval rating: 41%)
January 3, 2006: The Sago Mine Disaster occurs. Recent deregulation of safety protocols in the coal mines played a role in the incident.
January 31, 2006: Sam Alito becomes the second far-right judge to be appointed by Bush and approved by the Senate. (Bush approval rating: 40%)
February 11, 2006: Vice President Cheney thinks his hunting partner is some kind of deer species and shoots him in the face. When I come to think of it, I'm glad he took those five deferments. (Bush approval rating: 38%, Cheney approval rating: 18%)
February 22, 2006: The Askari Mosque in Samarra is blown up by Sunni extremists. Shi'ites respond with an enormous wave of violence, kickstarting the Iraqi Civil War. (Bush approval rating: 37%)
March-September 2006: Gas prices skyrocket to greater than $3 a gallon in many places, causing significant hardship for a majority of Americans. The rise in gas prices is a primary contributor in lowering Bush's approval ratings to the freezing level. (Bush approval rating: 35%)
June 29, 2006: Hamdan v. Rumsfeld. Hamdan's lawyer is drummed out of the Navy for doing his constitutional duty. (Bush approval rating: 36%)
July-August 2006: The Israel-Lebanon crisis. This exposed further the insanity of the Iraq war. Our presence in Iraq made Iran a much bigger player in the Middle East. By propping up Nouri al-Maliki, a close friend of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, we made it a lot easier for Iran to arm Hezbollah by creating a "Shi'ite Crescent" extending from Tehran to Beirut. (Bush approval rating: 38%)
August 11, 2006: Former senator George Allen of Virginia calls S.D. Sidarth, a Webb volunteer, "macaca". Allen also claims that Sidarth is now in real Virginia with real Virginians. The problem is, Sidarth was born and raised in Virginia. Allen is a Californian by birth. (Bush approval rating: 39%)
September 29, 2006: The Mark Foley Scandal breaks. Equivocation from the White House and many Republican congressional leaders sinks their popularity even more. (Bush approval rating: 38%)
October 9, 2006: North Korea tests a nuke. This is perhaps the most dangerous member of the "Axis of Evil", yet the incompetent Bush Administration virtually ignored them (Clinton on the other hand almost went to war with North Korea in 1994 to keep them in line). (Bush approval rating: 36%)
November 3, 2006: Evangelical Ted Haggard is exposed as a hypocrite when he admits to sexual encounters with a male prostitute and rampant meth abuse. (Bush approval rating: 35%)
November 7, 2006: Dems take the House. (Bush approval rating: 35%)
November 9, 2006: Dems take the Senate after George "Macaca" Allen concedes to James Webb and Conrad "Abramoff" Burns concedes to the buzzcut, Jon Tester. (Bush approval rating: 35%)
November 23, 2006: Incredible sectarian violence breaks out in Sadr City, where over 200 people are killed. (Bush approval rating: 34%)
December 30, 2006: Saddam is executed (the execution is botched). (Bush approval rating: 34%)
New Years Eve: The American death toll in Iraq hits 3,000. (Bush approval rating: 34%)
January 4, 2007: The Democrats are sworn in as the majority party in both Houses of Congress. (Bush approval rating: 34%)
January 10, 2007: Bush introduces his Iraq surge/escalation proposal in a nationally televised primetime speech. (Bush approval rating: 33%)
Now let us take a look at Presidential approval ratings from the past:
- Bill Clinton never dropped below 38% in his entire presidency. From 1996 on he never dropped below 50%. This was mostly due to a strong economy. Clinton also attempted to pay down the national debt, a policy which Gore would have continued.
- At least 60% of Americans disapproved of George H.W. Bush in November 1992, when the recession hit and the victory in the Persian Gulf faded into the memory. According to Gallup, the elder Bush hit 50%+ disapproval in every poll from April to October 1992.
- Reagan is considered by many to be a popular president, but through most of his first term, he was mired in 50-60% disapproval ratings. Reagan was popular in the middle years (1984-1986) but relatively unpopular through the rest of his Presidency.
- Although Carter once polled at 26%, he never polled above 60% disapproval in a Gallup survey.
- Nixon was a relatively popular President before Watergate hit. His approval rating never sunk below 48% due to his policy of detente with the Russians and his recognition of China. Of course, Watergate sent him into the 20s, where he cratered at 24% upon his resignation.
- Many view LBJ as a vastly unpopular President for his Vietnam policy. For most of his Presidency, LBJ was actually very popular. According to Gallup, LBJ hit 50%+ disapproval only four times in his presidency. His civil rights legislation and Great Society accounted for much of his popularity.
- Harry Truman's approval rating in January 1952 is the lowest ever recorded (23%). However, his firing of General MacArthur is viewed much more favorably now than it was over half a century ago. Truman is listed no lower than ninth amongst all the Presidents in approval polls. Only Lincoln, Washington, FDR, Wilson, Jefferson, and Teddy rate higher than Truman in an aggregate average.
- Ford, JFK, Eisenhower and FDR never recorded a disapproval rating over 50%. JFK was actually the most popular of the bunch at the time: his highest disapproval rating was 30%.
Frankly, it's amazing Bush still holds thirty-four percent or so, after all the crap that's gone on in the world in the past 20 months. Sometimes I wonder whether this 34% actually believes that the President is the second coming of Christ. That presents an incredibly scary scenario for the future of this country and the world.