Bush poll numbers fall again

New Zogby Survey shows Iraq a Partisan War

In the face of rising gas prices, partisan sniping over Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito, and a resumption of insurgent violence in Iraq, President Bush’s job approval rating has slipped into a post-holiday funk, again dipping below 40%, a new telephone poll by Zogby International shows.

His approval rating almost mirrors the percentage of respondents (40%) who said the nation overall is headed in the right direction.

The deterioration in the President’s numbers appears to be the result of eroding support among the investor class and others who supported him in his 2004 re-election bid, said Pollster John Zogby, President and CEO of Zogby International. And the problem is the Iraq war – just 34% of respondents said Mr. Bush was doing a good or excellent job managing the war, down from 38% approval in a Zogby poll taken in mid-October.

Bush’s overall job approval rating in that poll was at 46%.

Among investors, Bush’s support for managing the war dropped five points since October, from 45% to 40%, Zogby data shows. But Zogby said the glaring split between how Republicans, Democrats and independents think the President is handling Iraq is remarkable.

“The numbers in support for the war in Iraq are extremely low among Democrats and independents,” Zogby said. “This is a partisan war.”

While 61% of Republicans said he was doing a good job managing the war (down from 70% in October), just 11% of Democrats and 28% of independents gave him good marks in that area. Among Democrats, 71% said Bush was doing a “poor” job with the war, while 17% said he was doing only a “fair” job.

Among men, 36% said the President was handling the war well, while 31% of women agreed.

Bush has retained a base of support for his handling of the broader war on terror, as 46% said he is doing a good job, down just one percent since October. His management of the war on terror had been a consistently bright spot for the President since the aftermath of the terror attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, before dipping below 50% last year.

However, half of those surveyed said they feel safer with Bush as President, compared to 38% who said they feel less safe.

Respondents rated the war in Iraq and the war on terror as the two top issues facing America. Jobs and the economy were also important, they said, with health care coming in a distant fourth, followed by concern over gas and fuel prices.

Which political party is better equipped to handle . . .

	Jobs/ economy	Terrorism	Taxes	Environment	Integrity	Foreign Policy
GOP	40%	47%	43%	27%	35%	40%
DEMS	41%	26%	37%	55%	34%	40%
Neither	6%	11%	10%	6%	19%	5%
Both	5%	7%	3%	3%	5%	7%
Not Sure	9%	9%	7%	9%	7%	7%

Asked about his leadership of foreign policy in general, 36% said Bush was doing a good job.

Asked about which party they would support when making a decision about the race for Congress in their home district, Democrats maintained a 33% to 26% edge over Republicans.

But as the nation’s capital sinks further into scandal talk revolving around Congress and allegations of improper gifts doled out by lobbyist Jack Abramoff, the poll shows the public has yet to hold one party more responsible than the other. Despite Democratic efforts to paint the Abramoff influence-pedaling case as a Republican scandal, the GOP holds a slight advantage in the minds of respondents when it comes to integrity – 35% said they believed Republicans have more integrity, while 34% gave the nod to Democrats. 19% said neither party had integrity.

The nationwide Zogby poll, conducted Jan. 9-12, included 1,030 interviews and carries a margin of error of +/- 3.1 percentage points.

(1/15/2006)

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