[NYTr] Bush, Congress at record low ratings: Reuters poll

[All the News That Doesn't Fit]

Reuters - Sep 19, 2007
http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSN1844140220070919?feedType=RSS&feedName=topNews&sp=true

Bush, Congress at record low ratings: Reuters poll

By John Whitesides, Political Correspondent

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President George W. Bush and the U.S. Congress
registered record-low approval ratings in a Reuters/Zogby poll released
on Wednesday, and a new monthly index measuring the mood of Americans
dipped slightly on deepening worries about the economy.

Only 29 percent of Americans gave Bush a positive grade for his job
performance, below his worst Zogby poll mark of 30 percent in March. A
paltry 11 percent rated Congress positively, beating the previous low
of 14 percent in July.

The Reuters/Zogby Index, a new measure of the mood of the country,
dropped from 100 to 98.8 in the last month on worries about the economy
and fears of a recession, pollster John Zogby said.

"Since the last time we polled we have had the mortgage crisis, and we
are hearing the recession word a whole lot more than we've heard it in
the past," Zogby said.

"There are things that happened in the September polling that drove the
number down a bit, and they are mostly economic worries," he added.

The Index, which debuts this month, combines responses to 10 questions
on Americans' views about their leaders, the direction of their country
and their personal situations. Polling for the Index began in July, and
that month's results provide the benchmark score of 100.

A score above 100 indicates the country's mood has improved since July.
A score below 100, like the one recorded in September, shows the
nation's mood getting worse. The RZI, which will be released the third
Wednesday of each month, had remained at 100 in August.

"The public mood is not just dark. What's darker than dark?" Zogby
said. "The mood is getting ugly."

The national survey of 1,011 likely voters, taken September 13 through
September 16, found barely one-quarter of Americans, or 27 percent,
believe the country is headed in the right direction. Nearly 62 percent
think the country is on the wrong track.

About two-thirds of Americans think the value of their homes will stay
the same or drop in the next year, and about one-third expect a
recession in the next year amid a housing slump and credit crunch.

The poll also found little confidence in U.S. foreign or economic
policy, with 68 percent of Americans rating economic policy as just
fair or poor and 73 percent calling foreign policy either fair or poor.

Most of the polling was done after a speech by Bush and testimony to
Congress by the top commander in Iraq, Gen. David Petraeus, indicating
the United States would make some reductions but planned to keep high
troop levels in Iraq for the foreseeable future.

Zogby said continuing uncertainty about Iraq contributed to the bad
public mood and helped push down ratings for Bush and the
Democratic-controlled Congress.

"I think we are seeing an anti-institution mood here," he said.
"Post-Katrina, and now with Iraq and the economy getting worse, people
just don't have faith that anybody is solving their problems."

In the 2008 White House race, Sen. Hillary Clinton of New York led the
Democratic field with 35 percent. Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois was
second with 21 percent and former Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina
was third with 10 percent.

New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson and Delaware Sen. Joseph Biden drew the
support of about 3 percent each.

For Republicans, former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani led the 2008 field
with 26 percent, while newly minted candidate Fred Thompson, a former
senator and Hollywood actor, was second with 24 percent.

Arizona Sen. John McCain was third at 13 percent and former
Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney was fourth with 7 percent.

In both parties, about 20 percent of likely voters said they had not
made up their minds, leaving plenty of room for the races to shift.

The national telephone survey had a margin of error of plus or minus
3.1 percentage points.