Bush administration approval ratings

The following are links to articles and documentation regarding Bush administration approval ratings, particularly as they relate to President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney and

• Iraq, Afghanistan and the war on terrorism:

• McCain doctrine (troop "surge" in Iraq)
• Abu Ghraib and Afghanistan detainee abuse scandal
• civil war in Iraq and The Other War: Afghanistan
• Operation Enduring Freedom (in Afghanistan and around the globe)
• Operation Iraqi Freedom: Year Five
• Iraqi detainee abuse scandal
• extraordinary rendition
• Walter Reed Army Medical Center scandal

• war in Iran
• Republican 'culture of corruption', including the Mark Foley page scandal, Dennis Hastert, Bill Frist, Tom DeLay, Jack Abramoff, Duke Cunningham, Scooter Libby, and many others
• Bush's domestic spying and phone records spying
• Bush administration cronyism and incompetence
• Bush administration scandals:

• Outing of CIA Operative Valerie Plame
• Trial of Scooter Libby
• Bush administration U.S. attorney firings controversy

• Hurricanes Katrina and Rita
• Cindy Sheehan and the peace movement

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Historical Bush Approval Ratings

See chart of "Historical Bush Approval Ratings" for January 20, 2001, to present as posted by public polling organizations.

Tracking the Numbers 2007

• July 25, 2007: Washington Post/ABC News survey: 65% of Americans "disapprove of Bush's job performance, matching his all-time low."
• July 24, 2007: UPI/Zogby International Poll (conducted July 13-16): "Nearly 80 percent of participants ... said the Iraq war has hurt the United States' standing the international community."
• July 12, 2007: Harris Interactive Poll (conducted July 6-9): 26% viewed Bush's job rating as "positive", with only 5% rating it as "excellent", and 73% viewed it as "negative"; 19% thought the U.S. was going in the right direction, 70% did not
• July 6, 2007: Newsweek Poll (conducted July 2-3): 67% dissatisfied/24% satisfied with the way things are going in U.S.; 26% approve/65% disapprove of way Bush is handling his job.
• May 8, 2007: CNN/Opinion Research Poll (conducted May 4-6): 65% opposed/34% favored U.S. war in Iraq; 54% disapproved/44% approved of Bush's decision to veto Iraq spending bill that would have set a specific date for withdrawal from Iraq; 61% favored/36% opposed setting benchmarks for Iraqi government; 50% favored/47% opposed a bill that would revoke Bush's authority to conduct military actions in Iraq and would require Bush to seek a new authorization from Congress.
• May 5, 2007: Newsweek Poll (conducted May 2-3): 28% approve/64% disapprove of the way Bush is doing his job; 25% are satisfied/71% dissatisfied with the way things are going in the U.S.; and 62% believe Bush's recent actions on Iraq show that he is "stubborn and unwilling to admit his mistakes".
• April 25, 2007: Wall Street Journal/MSNBC Poll (conducted April 20-23): 56% "agree more with the Democrats in Congress who want to set a deadline for troop withdrawal" vs. 37% who "agree with Bush that there shouldn't be a deadline"; 55% believe "victory in Iraq isn't possible", 49% say "situation in Iraq has gotten worse in the last three months since Bush announced his so-called troop surge", 37% say "situation has stayed about the same", and only 12% think the situation has "improved"; only 22% think country is on right track.
• April 18, 2007: CNN/Opinion Research Poll (conducted April 10-12): 32% favor/66% oppose the war in Iraq; 60% are more likely to support Democrats in Congress on the Iraq dispute, while 37% support Bush; 35% support an immediate withdrawal of troops from Iraq, 26% support withdrawal by March 2008, and 37% support keeping troops in Iraq; only 28% said things are going well in Iraq, while 69% said they are going badly; 21% think the U.S. is winning in Iraq, 18% think the insurgents are winning, while 63% said neither side is winning; 29% said additional troops is more likely to help U.S. goals in Iraq, 17% said additional troops are less likely to help, and 52% said additional troops won't make any difference.
• April 17, 2007: ABC News/Washington Post Poll (conducted April 12-15): 35% approve Bush's overall job performance; 51% "think U.S. will lose war"; 66% "think Iraq was not worth fight"; 57% "reject Bush's argument that winning in Iraq is necessary to win the broader war against terrorism"; 65% oppose "surge" plan; 51% agree/48% disagree on setting any deadline for withdrawal from Iraq
• March 17, 2007: Newsweek Poll: 32% supported Bush's approach to the war in Iraq, while 59% "support Democratic legislation to require the withdrawal of U.S. troops by the fall of next year." 58% (including 45% of Republicans) "say the ouster of the federal prosecutors was driven by political concerns. ... When asked if the administration has introduced politics into too many areas of government, 47 percent said they agree." 55% said "administration has done a poor job of dealing with the situation at Walter Reed", 28% said "enough has been done in response to the scandal", 44% said "more people should lose their jobs", and 72% said "Walter Reed’s conditions are not an isolated incident but a sign of bigger problems affecting the whole health-care system inside the military."
• March 15, 2007: New York Times/CBS News Poll: Support for regime change in Iraq falls to 15%: "Only 15 per cent of respondents believe the United States should try to change a dictatorship to a democracy where it can, down 12 points since April 2004."
• March 13, 2007: CNN/Opinion Research Corp. Poll (conducted March 9-11): "Nearly six in ten Americans want to see U.S. troops leave Iraq either immediately or within a year, and more would rather have Congress running U.S. policy in the conflict than President Bush."
• March 12, 2007: CNN/Opinion Research Corp. Poll (conducted March 9-11): 46% think US will win the war in Iraq, 29% (an all-time low) said things are going well, and 8% had no opinion; 54% said "the Bush administration was deliberately misleading on whether Iraq had weapons of mass destruction prior to the U.S.-led invasion."
• March 5, 2007: Zogby International Poll (conducted March 1-2): Bush's approval rating at all time low of 30%, with 69% disapproving of the job Bush is doing; 23% gave positive ratings on Bush's handling of Iraq; only 31% believe country is headed in the right direction.
• March 2, 2007: New York Times/CBS News Poll (conducted February 23-27): 29% approved (vice 34% end of October 2006) and 62% disapproved (vice 58% in October) of Bush's handling of his job; of these, only 65% of Republicans approved (vice 78% October 2006); 23% approved Bush's "dealing with the situation in Iraq" and 25% approved of his handling of foreign policy; only 40% approved/53% disapproved of Bush's "campaign against terrorism"; 75% said "things going badly" for U.S. in Iraq and only 23% said things were "going well"; only 23% said U.S. going in right direction, while 68% said it was "on wrong track".
• February 26, 2007: Washington Post-ABC News Poll (conducted February 22-25): "Opposition to Bush's plan to send an additional 21,500 troops to Iraq remained strong. Two in three Americans registered their disapproval, with 56 percent saying they strongly object." 53% "favored setting a deadline for troop withdrawals", with 24% wanting to see U.S. forces "out within six months" and 21% calling for "the withdrawals to be completed within a year. The rest of those who supported a timetable said they do not support withdrawing all troops until at least a year from now." "Americans trust congressional Democrats over Bush to handle the situation in Iraq by a margin" 54% to 34%; 67% disapprove/31% approve of Bush's handling of the Iraq war—55% "strongly disapprove", while only 17% "strongly approve" of it.
• February 13, 2007: Gallup Poll (conducted February 9-11): "[M]ost Americans favor congressional action for a cap on, and then withdrawal of, troops. They are less excited about the current nonbinding resolution against a 'surge'. ... Still, 6 out of 10 oppose the 'surge' in troops. ... Given a list of options, 63% opted for the cap and withdrawal by the end of next year. Some 51% backed the anti-surge resolution. Fewer, 4 in 10, want to cut off funds for the surge."
• January 27, 2007: NEWSWEEK Poll: "The president’s approval ratings are at their lowest point in the poll’s history—30 percent—and more than half the country (58 percent) say they wish the Bush presidency were simply over, a sentiment that is almost unanimous among Democrats (86 percent), and is shared by a clear majority (59 percent) of independents and even one in five (21 percent) Republicans. Half (49 percent) of all registered voters would rather see a Democrat elected president in 2008, compared to just 28 percent who’d prefer the GOP to remain in the White House."
• January 22, 2007: NBC News/Wall Street Journal Poll: "Nearly two-thirds of Americans appear to have given up on success in Iraq and also on his presidency. ... In addition, the poll finds that nearly another two-thirds believe he shouldn’t move ahead with his troop increase to Iraq, if Congress passes a non-binding resolution opposing it. And it shows that just two in 10 want Bush taking the lead role in setting policy for the country."
• January 22, 2007: Associated Press-AOL News Poll: 66% think country is on wrong track; only 44% think Bush is honest (53% in 2005); only 60% think Bush and Congress can work together to solve nation's problems; 42% think US better off with Democrats in charge of Congress; 65% disapprove of Bush's handling of war in Iraq; only 31% approve Bush's plan to send more troops and only 35% think more troops will stabilize situation; Bush's overall approval rating 36%.
• January 20, 2007: NEWSWEEK Poll: 68% oppose Bush's call for a troop "surge", 26% support it; 46% want to see troops "pulled out 'as soon as possible'"; Bush's approval rating 31%; 52% trust Democrats on Iraq vs 32% trust Republicans.
• January 19, 2007: FOX News/Opinion Dynamics Poll (conducted January 16-17): Bush's approval rating is 38%, unfavorable 58%; Cheney's approval rating is 37%, unfavorable 53%; GOP approval rating 39%, unfavorable 49%; "Democrat Party" approval rating 51%, unfavorable 35%.
• January 11, 2007: Washington Post/ABC News Poll (conducted following Bush's speech): 61% oppose troop increase, 52% "strongly" oppose the build-up; 36% support additional troops; only 25% of public is strongly supportive; 57%, "a new high, say the U.S. is losing the war in Iraq." Also see McCain doctrine.
• January 11, 2007: Associated Press/Ipsos Poll: 35% "think it was right for the United States to go to war, a new low in AP polling and a reversal from two years ago, when two-thirds of Americans thought it was the correct move"; 60% "think it is unlikely that a stable, democratic Iraqi government will be established."
• January 9, 2007: USA TODAY/Gallup Poll (conducted January 12-14): Regarding plan under consideration by Bush administration to deploy up to 20,000 additional U.S. troops to Iraq: 61% opposed/36% approved of plan; only 26% approved of job Bush is doing in Iraq.