Poll: Gonzales Approval Rating at 26%
Rasmussen Reports Inc
Plurality Says Gonzales Should Resign
March 21, 2007

Thirty-nine percent (39%) of American voters believe Attorney General Alberto Gonzales should resign. A Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey of 800 Likely Voters found that 31% disagree and say he should not resign while 30% are not sure. Fifty-three percent (53%) of Democrats believe he should resign along with 21% of Republicans and 42% of those not affiliated with either major party.

Public opinion of the Attorney General is declining. The current survey, completed Tuesday night March 20, finds that just 26% have a favorable opinion of Gonzales. That's down six points from a survey conducted five days earlier. At the same time, the number with an unfavorable opinion of Gonzales has climbed to 52%. Last week, 49% had an unfavorable view, a figure that had already jumped up from 41% a month ago.

The number with a Very Unfavorable opinion of Gonzales is up to 28%. That's a 3-point increase over the past week and a ten-point increase over the past month. Just 8% have a Very Favorable opinion, down from 11% last week.

While 39% believe the Attorney General should resign, 47% believe it is Somewhat or Very Likely that he will resign. The biggest reason for the gap can be found among Republicans. Twenty-one percent (21%) of GOP voters believe Gonzales should resign but 38% believe it is at least somewhat likely he will resign.

Fifty-seven percent (57%) of Americans say they are following the stories surrounding Gonzales Somewhat or Very Closely.

Twenty-seven percent (27%) say they are Very Concerned about the recent firing of 8 U.S. attorneys. Another 28% say they are Somewhat Concerned.

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This national telephone survey of 800 Likely Voters was conducted by Rasmussen Reports March 19-20, 2007. The margin of sampling error for the survey is +/- 4 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence. (see Methodology)

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