9/15/05 FOX News Poll: Post Katrina, Bush Job Rating at Record Low (41%)

[sonicx]

NEW YORK — Two weeks after Hurricane Katrina (search) made landfall on Louisiana, a new FOX News poll finds that Americans think hurricane relief should be President George W. Bush’s top domestic priority right now — outdistancing several other hot button issues, including the economy and gas prices. Bush’s approval rating has taken a hit since the hurricane and now sits at the lowest level of his presidency. The bright side of Katrina: A majority of the public thinks the hurricane will ultimately make the country stronger and most believe that Americans are pulling together more now than they have for previous disasters.

The poll finds that helping those affected by the hurricane should be the number one item on the president’s domestic to-do list. From a list of seven issue areas, a plurality (27 percent) says hurricane relief should be the top priority for Bush right now, the economy comes in second (17 percent), followed closely by homeland security (14 percent) and gas prices (10 percent). No other issue receives double-digit support, though at 9 percent health care comes closest — edging out Social Security (8 percent) and education (5 percent).

Today, 41 percent of voters approve and 51 percent disapprove of President Bush’s performance, which is the lowest job rating he has received in a FOX News poll. The president’s approval rating is down 4 percentage points from two weeks ago (45 percent, August 30-31), around the time the magnitude of Katrina’s damage was becoming clear. Before the hurricane, 47 percent approved and 44 percent disapproved (July 26-27).

For most of Bush’s presidency, approval among his party faithful has not only been well above 80 percent, but also for a significant amount of time above 90 percent. The average approval rating for his presidency among Republicans is 90 percent; today 81 percent approve. Bush’s approval rating has gone into single digits among Democrats, coming in at 8 percent in this week’s poll. For independents, 30 percent approve.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,169469,00.html

[wakeme2008]

1. Not good Bushie --- Even your Fox friends Polls

show you as a loser.. :)

[Beetwasher]

2. Fox Has Him Down at 41%, Shame on Gallup/CNN for Pushing that Phony Poll

the other day.

[koopie57]

18. nevernind

I basically agreed with that person with tree in his name who talked about low balling the pole numbers.

[sonicx]

3. also...

<<A sizable 40 percent minority believes natural disasters are messages from a higher being, but just over half disagree (51 percent).>>

:eyes:

[JoFerret]

7. 47% think Bush is a plague

74% know he is contagious.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

9. Look at it this way

The faith based people who thought Bush was the Second Coming are now having Second Thoughts.....

[halobeam]

4. A new "low"?? higher each day?

It was 36 or 38% two days ago, then 40% yesterday, now a "new low" at 41%??

This is ridiculous. Yeah, I know it's FOX and yeah, I guess it is kind of funny.:crazy:

[merwin]

10. Since all methodologies are different, they always define the 'new low'

as a per-organization thing. They don't compare different polling companies. Apples and oranges :-)

Basically, the trending of all polls are nearly the same, it's just the 1%-5% difference between different pollers. That difference is pretty damn consistant too.

Look at it more like: Bush's approval rating dropped 3 points in 1 week (rather than looking at the actual percentage)

[iconoclastic cat]

11. "Today's Republican Party: Hitting New Lows, Again and Again!"

You're soaking in it!

[belle]

16. New low for Fox polls.

[WCGreen]

17. It's a new low in the Fox Poll.....

That is what they are refering to....

[JoFerret]

5. Iraq?

.

[Prisoner_Number_Six]

6. What do the REAL polls say?

It's funny- the numbers have been dropping for months, yet every time I see an actual figure quoted, it's between 41 and 43 percent. They haven't changed that number in a long time. I guess they dare not go below forty percent. I believe the reality to be closer to the twenties by now.

[fed-up]

8. Why don't they just state that he's dropped 49% from his high to low? n/t

[treefrogjohn]

12. Not to be cynical but ...

I think they may have low-balled these numbers so that they can show a bigger bounce after his speech tonight. For example, 46% approval would still be low but they could boast of a 5% gain overnight.

[mitchum]

15. I believe you are right,, treefrogjohn

[lancdem]

13. I think Fox kept the numbers from being worse

by oversampling Repukes. If Bush has an approval rating of 8 percent among Dems and 30 percent among indys, even with a rating of 81 percent among Repubs it should be lower than 41 percent overall.

[achtung_circus]

14. NUTS

hurricane relief 27 %
homeland security 14 %

"the economy" 17 %
gas prices 10 %
health care 9 %
Social Security 8 %
education 5 %
THE ECONOMY 49 %

[savemefromdumbya]

19. I'd like to see 0%

He deserves 0% 41% is way too high

[goforit]

20. Poor old Fox.....their whole livelyhood of bullshit is on the line.