Bush Approval Rating Rises To 34 Percent

By: Brian Montopoli
Topics: Republicans

(AP Photo/Ron Edmonds)

President Bush's approval rating is rising as his presidency draws to a close, a new Gallup poll finds, and now stands at 34 percent. Sixty-one percent now disapprove of his performance.

While that approval rating is an improvement on the historic lows the president reached this year – CBS News polling in 2008 saw the presidential approval rating hit the low 20s – the president is still leaving office as one of the most unpopular American leaders in recent memory.

Going back to the 1950s, only Richard Nixon and Harry Truman have had lower ratings when they left office; Jimmy Carter's approval rating was also 34 percent. Every other president's approval stood at 49 percent or better. (The most popular presidents when they left office were Bill Clinton, with a 66 percent approval rating, followed by Ronald Reagan and Dwight Eisenhower. Presidents who died in office are not included.)

And, as Gallup notes, "[i]n one sense, Bush's final rating is worse than either Carter's or Truman's, because his disapproval score is significantly higher. Whereas Bush and Carter share identical 34% final job approval ratings, 61% of Americans disapprove of the job Bush is doing, compared with 55% who said they disapproved of Carter in December 1980."

Only Nixon, who resigned as a result of the Watergate scandal, was demonstrably less popular than Mr. Bush when he left office.

One thing Mr. Bush can take solace in: Three-quarters of Republicans approve of his performance. And in a demonstration of what Gallup calls the "lame-duck approval bounce," he is up nine points overall since the start of November.

Brian Montopoli
Brian Montopoli is the senior political reporter at CBSNews.com.
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by pkom-2009 May 8, 2009 1:41 PM EDT: Bin Laden was trying to kill Americans and financially
damage the U.S and bring down the economy.
George Bush accomplished all of those things.
Over 4000 americans killed in his war to find
nonexistant WMD and over 5 trillion dollars in new debt
plus a recession.; Reply to this comment


by antonio_28 January 16, 2009 1:42 PM EST: Poor neocons were depending on the "Bubba" vote to propel McCain to victory. What happened? I recall the neocons being on the wrong side of a landslide Nov. 4th. I really enjoyed that.; Reply to this comment


by antonio_28 January 16, 2009 1:39 PM EST: Sorry, but the fact your messiah NObama will only be the third DumboCraphead President to reside in the White House in the past forty years makes it kinda necessary.

Posted by I_H_Libturds

Above is a post from a backwards in-breed. Poor loser!; Reply to this comment


by antonio_28 January 16, 2009 1:37 PM EST: Bush should be very proud of his legacy. There have been very many mediocre Presidents in American history.

But it takes a special kind of jackass to rise to the level of "Worst President Ever!"

Posted by briannorwood

Well said.; Reply to this comment


by antonio_28 January 16, 2009 1:36 PM EST: Pres Bush''''s legacy will show him as a very good President that kept us safe.

Posted by JGJ2010

Keep wishing and hoping. His legacy is and will be, the worst President ever. It amazes me how some people (okay, not normal, intelligent people) still are supporting and backing him. I don''t know why it is so hard to admit that the country made a drastic mistake voting him to a victory in 2004. I don''t count 2000 because that was a stolen election.; Reply to this comment


by antonio_28 January 16, 2009 1:29 PM EST: Pres Bush beats the democratic led Congress under Pelosi & Reid by 14%, lol.

Posted by JGJ2010

I know how you neocons have a different way of looking at things but congress is made up of Dems and Repubs, regardless of who is leading them. Bush leaves office like most of us have thought all along - The worst POTUS in recent history. Spin it any way you like but that is reality.; Reply to this comment


by treknutz January 15, 2009 9:33 PM EST: A poll that was taken only in the states of Texas and Alabama.

Of course his ratings will rise. Now, poll the rest of us.; Reply to this comment


by briannorwood January 15, 2009 5:51 PM EST: Bush should be very proud of his legacy. There have been very many mediocre Presidents in American history.

But it takes a special kind of jackass to rise to the level of "Worst President Ever!"; Reply to this comment


by idnnsg January 15, 2009 12:56 PM EST: "Bush will be remembered as one of the all time great presidents."

I sincerely doubt that. He broke his oath of office, violated the US Constitution, illegally spied on US citizens, FAILED to protect us on 9/11 even though the Clinton security people had been warning him about bin Laden since BEFORE Bush took office and even though on Aug 6 he got the NIE "Bin Laden determined to strike in US"! He has violated US and International Law by authorizing TORTURE. He has completely BANKRUPTED this country, putting us in debt to the Chinese and the Arabs. He can''t even construct a single coherent English sentence due to the severe brain damage from his many years as an alcoholic and coke head.

98% of the historians in this country have ALREADY declared him to be a MISERABLE FAILURE.

GW, and all of the lunatics who STILL support him, can just rot in h3ll for all I care.; Reply to this comment


by downtowner97 January 15, 2009 12:52 PM EST: This is an outrage! CBS did a poll on Bush''s popularity on December 4 showing Bush at 24% approval, but had no corresponding story at that time. Now they cite a Gallup poll that shows his approval at 34%, while NBC and CNN''s latest polls each show him at 27%. Why are you picking cherries now, CBS?; Reply to this comment