While the approval rating of US President George W. Bush is at a record low, it is still somewhat better than the approval rating of his father, then-US President George H.W. Bush. At the start of the Iraq War, the approval rating of President Bush was at about 71 percent. Now, 40 points were chopped off as Iraq reaches its fifth year anniversary. Bush’s current approval rating is at 31 percent.
“Bush’s approval rating five years ago, at the start of the Iraq war, was 71 percent, and that 40-point drop is almost identical to the drop President Lyndon Johnson faced during the Vietnam War,” explains Keating Holland. Holland is the polling director for CNN.
“Johnson’s approval rating was 74 percent just before Congress passed the Gulf of Tonkin resolution in 1964, which effectively authorized the Vietnam War. Four years later, his approval rating was down to 35 percent, a 39-point drop that is statistically identical to what Bush has faced so far over the length of the Iraq war,” Holland adds.
But, the approval rating is divided as both Democrats and Republicans are divided when it comes to Bush’s approval rating. A little over 60 percent of Republicans still approve of the job that Bush is doing. However, those Republicans possibly make up the 31 percent of Bush’s approval rating.
For about one and a half years, Bush’s approval rating has not reached let alone climbed above 40 percent. But the figure is better than that of former US Presidents. The lowest approval rating was received by Harry Truman when back in 1952. Truman’s approval rating was at 22 percent.
Holland says that it is not uncommon for lame-duck presidents to get such approval ratings in times of war and the economy. Currently, the economy will probably be the number one issue in the US presidential races. So far, US Democratic frontrunner Barack Obama had started to link the country’s struggling economy with Iraq.
Iraq has been the main platform for the candidacy of GOP nominee John McCain.
However, there are lame-duck presidents that have made strong approval ratings before leaving office. But, in those cases the country was not engaged in any wars. In addition, the economy was considered to be stable and good.