Bush Job Approval Rating Up 5 Percentage Points

Photo Credit: David Woo,Washington Post

War weary Americans are viewing President George W. Bush's job approval in a more favorable light. Gallup's August 7-10, 2008 poll places Bush's approval at 33%, inching upward after lows of 28% in April, May and June 2008. President Bush has a 2001-2008 "term average" approval rating of 50%, according to Gallup, so his low of 28% this summer was seen as disastrous for the Republican party. 71% of Republicans in the current poll approve of the President's performance, compared to only 60% in Gallup's May 2008 rankings - an 11% increase in approximately 3-1/3 months. A USA/Today/Gallup poll covering the period of July 25-28, 2008 shows the public "applauding" the surge in Iraq and increasing their approval by 8 percentage points since February 2008 to 48%. Increased approval can be partially attributed to a decline in those who previously saw the surge as "not making much difference," from 51% in July 2007 to only 32% in the current poll. By contrast, Gallup's July 10-12 , 2008 Congressional approval poll plummeted 5 percentage points from 19% in June to 14% in July.

The most recent decline comes almost exclusively from Democrats, whose approval of Congress fell from 23% in June to 11% in July, while independents' and Republicans' views of Congress did not change much.

Summer is almost over but Fall elections promise torrid temps.