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Bush/Cheney Polls Hit All Time LowHarris PollApril 26, 2007 Majorities View All U.S. Political Figures in a Negative Light President George W. Bush's job performance is currently viewed positively by only 28 percent of U.S. adults, the lowest since he took office. Seven in ten adults view his job performance in a negative light, including almost half (48%) who say his job performance is poor. Since February, the President has dropped from one-third (32%) who viewed his job positively and 67 percent who gave him negative marks. Vice President Dick Cheney is also at his lowest job approval – just one-quarter of adults view him in a positive light while over two-thirds (68%) view his job performance negatively. This is down from February, which was his previous low, when 29 percent saw his job performance positively and 67 percent saw it in a negative way. These are some of the results from the latest Harris Poll of 1,001 U.S. adults surveyed by telephone between April 20 and 23, 2007 by Harris Interactive®. Negative Feelings Not Limited Exclusively Toward President Bush For the first time, all of the political figures and institutions in our survey have a negative job performance rating. This includes Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice who, for the first time since assuming this office, is viewed negatively by half of adults. In February, 46 percent of adults viewed her positively and 48 percent negatively. However, she still has the highest positive job performance rating at 45 percent. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates has also trended down in job performance. In February, one-third of adults (32%) gave him positive job performance ratings while half (52%) gave him negative ratings. Now that his has been on the job a little longer, only 29 percent view his job performance in a positive light while 55 percent view it negatively. The Democratic leaders may have gotten past their first 100 days, but the people are not giving the leaders of the House and the Senate glowing reviews either. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has fallen from a 38 percent positive rating in February to 30 percent positive now. Well over half (56%) of adults currently view her job performance in a negative light, compared to just 45 percent who did so in February. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has also dropped. In February, 23 percent viewed him positively while 47 percent viewed his job performance negatively. Currently, over half (52%) see his job performance in a negative light while just 22 percent gives it positive ratings. Opinions on Congress overall, as well as the two parties, have also dropped considerably in the past two months. Just over one-quarter (27%) view Congress' job performance positively while 69 percent view the job they are doing negatively. This is down from one-third who viewed it positively in February and 62 percent who viewed it negatively. Sometimes, moving from the majority to the minority can give a party a breath of fresh life as they adjust to their new status. Republicans have yet to see this as they drop in their job performance ratings. Just one in five (22%) of adults think Republicans are doing a good job while three-quarters (74%) look at their job performance negatively. This is a drop from February when 26 percent of adults saw Republicans' job performance as positive and 69 percent who looked at it in a negative light. Democrats saw a small upswing in their numbers in February when 41 percent saw their job performance in a positive light and just half (52%) viewed it negatively. Now that they have actually been in office for a few months, the newness may have worn off as just one-third (35%) of adults look at the job performance of Democrats in Congress in a positive way while 58 percent view their performance negatively. The Sense Being Off Track is Not Limited to Political Figures Just one quarter (26%) of U.S. adults think things in the country are going in the right direction while two-thirds (69%) think things have gotten off on the wrong track. Again, this is worse than in February when 29 percent of adults saw things going in the right direction while 62 percent said things were going off on the wrong track. Overall this survey suggests not a swing from Republicans to Democrats, but rather a mood of "a plague on all your houses". U.S. Adults Have Important Public Policy Issues With regard to the most important issues, yet again, the war tops the list as three in ten (30%) say that it is one of the two most important issues for the government to address. As a distant second is health care (15%) and then Iraq (13%), the economy (10%) and immigration and education (each at 9%). As this survey was conducted the weekend after the shootings at Virginia Tech, it is not surprising to see a rise in certain numbers. For example, crime/violence rose from two percent thinking it was an important issue in February to 6 percent this month. The issue of school safety also rose from less than half a percent in February to two percent this month as did the issue of the Second Amendment. TABLE 1 CURRENT RATINGS OF PRESIDENT, SENIOR CABINET MEMBERS AND PARTIES IN CONGRESS "How would you rate the job (READ ITEM) are/is doing – excellent, pretty good, only fair, or poor?" Base: All adults
*Positive = excellent or pretty good **Negative = only fair or poor TABLE 2POSITIVE RATINGS: TRENDS SINCE 9/11/01: SUMMARY Base: All adults
** Not Applicable. The question was not asked TABLE 3PRESIDENT BUSH'S OVERALL JOB RATING Not Sure's Excluded "How would you rate the overall job President George W. Bush is doing as president – excellent, pretty good, only fair, or poor?" Base: All adults
*Positive = excellent or pretty good. **Negative = only fair or poor. TABLE 4RATINGS OF VICE PRESIDENT DICK CHENEY Not Sure's Excluded "And how would you rate the job Vice President Cheney is doing – excellent, pretty good, only fair or poor?" Base: All adults
*Positive = excellent or pretty good. **Negative = only fair or poor. TABLE 5RATINGS OF SECRETARY OF STATE CONDOLEEZZA RICE Not Sure's Excluded "And how would you rate the job Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is doing – excellent, pretty good, only fair or poor?" Base: All adults
*Positive = excellent or pretty good. **Negative = only fair or poor. TABLE 6RATINGS OF SECRETARY OF DEFENSE ROBERT GATES Not Sure's Excluded "And how would you rate the job Secretary of Defense Robert Gates is doing – excellent, pretty good, only fair or poor?" Base: All adults
*Positive = excellent or pretty good. **Negative = only fair or poor. TABLE 7RATINGS OF HOUSE SPEAKER NANCY PELOSI Not Sure's Excluded "And how would you rate the job House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is doing – excellent, pretty good, only fair or poor?" Base: All adults
*Positive = excellent or pretty good. **Negative = only fair or poor. TABLE 8RATINGS OF SENATE MAJORITY LEADER HARRY REID Not Sure's Excluded "And how would you rate the job Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is doing – excellent, pretty good, only fair or poor?" Base: All adults
***Prior to February, 2007, Sen. Reid was the Senate Minority Leader *Positive = excellent or pretty good. **Negative = only fair or poor TABLE 9CONGRESS' OVERALL JOB RATING Not Sure's Excluded "How would you rate the overall job the Congress is doing– excellent, pretty good, only fair, or poor?" Base: All adults
*Positive = excellent or pretty good. **Negative = only fair or poor. TABLE 10RATINGS OF REPUBLICANS IN CONGRESS Not Sure's Excluded "And how would you rate the job Republicans in Congress are doing – excellent, pretty good, only fair or poor?" Base: All adults
*Positive = excellent or pretty good. **Negative = only fair or poor. TABLE 11RATINGS OF DEMOCRATS IN CONGRESS Not Sure's Excluded "And how would you rate the job Democrats in Congress are doing – excellent, pretty good, only fair or poor?" Base: All adults
*Positive = excellent or pretty good. **Negative = only fair or poor. TABLE 12RIGHT DIRECTION OR WRONG TRACK No Opinion's, Not Sure's and Decline to Answer's Excluded "Generally speaking, would you say things in the country are going in the right direction or have they pretty seriously gotten off on thewrong track?" Base: All adults
TABLE 13 MOST IMPORTANT ISSUES FOR GOVERNMENT to address "What do you think are the two most important issues for the government to address?" Spontaneous, unprompted replies Base: All Adults
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