Newsweek poll: Bush is down to a 26% approval rating, with a 65% disapproval rating. This makes President Bush second only to Richard Nixon for the title of Least Popular President Ever…in the history of polling, at least. Then, Nixon bottomed out at 23%. If Bush tries to create a legacy for himself other than destabilizing the Middle East and turning Iraq into a fetid pit of despair, he’s bound to screw that up, so maybe we’ll see him set a new record.
Congress, of course, still scores lower than President Bush, but that’s only news to political neophytes — a seemingly paradoxical premise of politics is that most everybody likes their congressman, but figures that the rest of congress is a cesspool. Congress always has a lower approval rating than the president.
Well, it was news to me…but then again, I’m a political neophyte…so I guess I’m not really saying much. -.-
Very interesting!
I want a pony when Bush gets down to single digits.
Are there any decent historical stats for approval ratings of VPs? Last one I saw put him around 15% (I think), and with his latest claim of being the fourth branch of government, I can’t imagine that number’s risen since.
What was the congressional approval rating in 1974 I wonder? Because the current advertised rate is an “all-time-low” of 14%. Courtesy of Gallup:
http://blogs.usatoday.com/gallup/2007/06/what_do_hmos_an.html
I suspect that the approval rating was higher, because they were impeaching a highly unpopular president. Trust in government is generally very low right now, and understandably — that’s reflected in both presidential and congressional approval ratings.
I’d be curious to find out how much congressional approval ratings and presidential approval ratings have covaried throughout the years.
I concede, of course, that I am grasping at other people’s straws. I am not one of the last 26%. Still, I take refuge in the fact, even as I am aware of what you wrote at the top, that Congress rates worse.
In 1975, 20% of people had “a lot” of confidence in Congress, 54% had “some” confidence, and 22% reported “none.” In the same survey, on the matter of President Ford, 21% reported “a lot” of confidence, 49% reported “some,” and 28% reported “none.” So even at one of the lowest points in support for the office of the presidency, only 4% more people reported “some” or “a lot” of confidence in congress than they did in the presidency.