George W. Bush

Public perception and assessments

Bush has been the subject of both popular praise and scathing criticism. His supporters believe he's done well with the economy, homeland security, and showed good leadership after the September 11 attacks. His detractors have disagreed on those very subjects and have also criticized the passage of the USA PATRIOT Act, the controversial 2000 election, and the 2003 invasion of Iraq. The magazine TIME named Bush as its Person of the Year for 2000 and for 2004. This award is traditionally given to the person considered by the editors to be the most important newsmaker of the year. Due to Bush's colorful mistakes when speaking, detractors coined a new term, bushism, to describe the grammatical configuration unique to the style of President George W. Bush. Bushisms have been widely popularized across many websites on the internet due to their sense of humor.

Related Topics:
Economy - USA PATRIOT Act - Controversial 2000 election - 2003 invasion of Iraq - TIME - Person of the Year - Bushism

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Domestic

In the time of national crisis following the September 11, 2001 attacks, Bush enjoyed approval ratings of greater than 85%. Since then, Bush's approval ratings and approval of handling of domestic, economic, and foreign policy issues has steadily dropped. For a comprehensive look, one can see an image of polling trends over the course of Bush's presidency here.

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During the 2002 midterm congressional elections, Bush had the highest approval rating of any president during a midterm election since Dwight Eisenhower. In an unusual deviation from the historical trend of midterm elections, the Republican Party retook control of the Senate and added to their majority in the House of Representatives; typically, the President's party loses Congressional seats in the midterm elections, and 2002 marked only the third midterm election since the Civil War that the party in control of the White House gained seats in both houses of Congress (others were 1902 and 1934).

Related Topics:
Dwight Eisenhower - Senate - House of Representatives - Civil War

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In 2003, Bush's approval spiked upward at the time of the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster in February. The upward trend continued through the invasion of Iraq in March. By late 2003, when presidential opponents typically begin their campaigns in earnest, his approval numbers were in the low to middle 50s. Most polls tied the decline to growing concern over the U.S.-led occupation of Iraq and a slow recovery from the 2001 recession. Polls of May 2004 showed anywhere from a 53 % approval rating http://www.rasmussenreports.com/Bush_Job_Approval.htm to a 46 % approval rating. http://www.usatoday.com/news/politicselections/nation/polls/usatodaypolls.htm A three-day telephone poll starting on June 27, 2005, conducted by Zogby International found that 42% of Americans would support impeachment if Bush lied about the reasons for going to war with Iraq, which is greater support for impeachment than ever seen for Clinton. http://www.zogby.com/news/ReadNews.dbm?ID=1007. More recently, a poll taken by American Research Group on August 18-21, 2005 http://americanresearchgroup.com/economy/ shows that 36% approve of the way Bush is handling his job as president (6% below the number in July), while 58% disapprove. This figure is lower than that of any modern President in his second term, including President Nixon's approval rating of 39% during the Watergate scandal that eventually led to his resignation, though not lower than President Jimmy Carter's nadir of 17%. A concurrent Gallup Poll performed August 28-30, 2005 showed a 45% approval and 52% disapproval rating. http://www.gallup.com/poll/stateNation/ A Zogby Poll of September 6-7, in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, showed a 41% approval, an all-time low in Zogby's presidential polling record for President Bush. The poll also showed President Bush's favorability ratings going below 50% for the first time as 49% saw him as favourable and 50% viewed him unfavourably. http://zogby.com/news/ReadNews.dbm?ID=1020

Related Topics:
Space Shuttle Columbia disaster - U.S.-led occupation of Iraq - June 27 - 2005 - Zogby - Impeachment - Watergate - Jimmy Carter

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Hurricane Katrina

In the wake of Hurricane Katrina in 2005, the floodwalls protecting New Orleans from Lake Pontchartrain broke, inundating the city. In the aftermath of the disaster, thousands of city residents, unable or unwilling to evacuate prior to the hurricane, became stranded with little to no relief for several days resulting in lawless and unsanitary conditions in some areas. Although blame was also attributed to state and local authorities, the public outcry was most prominently directed at the Bush administration, mainly FEMA and the Department of Homeland Security alleging weak crisis management and coordination. The Bush Administration faced accusations of slow response and mismanagement from members of Congress and other public figures. Many critics noted that the potential for disaster involving a breach of the New Orleans levees was well-documented, by both FEMA and the Louisiana State University. The Bush Administration like previous administrations failed to address the concern, and consistantly funded less than was requested by the Army Corps of Engineers to maintain the levees, although this did not impact the part of the levies that failed. The criticism and poor plannings of the local government led to the resignation of FEMA director Michael Brown and a rare September 15, 2005, admission by Bush that mistakes had been made by his administration.

Related Topics:
Hurricane Katrina - New Orleans - Lake Pontchartrain - Lawless and unsanitary conditions - FEMA - Department of Homeland Security - Michael Brown

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Outside the United States

A survey conducted by Ipsos for the Associated Press in 2004 found that "just over half in Mexico and Italy had a negative view of Mr. Bush's role. In Britain, the closest U.S. ally in the war in Iraq, and in Canada, traditionally America's closest ally, two-thirds had a negative view...Three-quarters of those in Spain and more than 80 % in France and Germany had a negative view of Mr. Bush's role in world affairs." http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/03/04/world/main604135.shtml While those in the United States were evenly divided on whether the war has increased or decreased the terror threat, by far the majority of those sampled outside the United States believe that Bush's foreign policy decisions in the Iraq war have "increased the threat of terrorism in the world." http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/03/04/world/main604135.shtml

Related Topics:
Associated Press - Iraq war

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Muslim countries are less favourable to Bush. In these Muslim countries, Bush's unfavorability ratings are particularly high, often over 90%. http://www.nytimes.com/2004/08/02/opinion/02wright.html Among the non-U.S. nations polled in another http://www.cbc.ca/news/america/finaldata.pdf worldwide poll by the CBC, Bush's popularity was highest in Israel, where 62% reported favorable views, however in the CBC poll, Israel was the only foreign country polled that had a net favorable opinion of Bush. (Q2)

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A 2005 poll conducted by the BBC World Service across 22,000 people in 21 nations found that a majority of world opinion (58%) believed that George Bush's re-election would have a negative impact on their peace and security. Only 26% believed it would have a positive one. Public opinion in the Philippines and India showed strong majorities in favour of Bush. http://www.lewrockwell.com/ips/lobe183.html, but these were the only countries in favour.

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The same poll revealed that support for the Iraq occupation had dropped to 37% in Britain. In Turkey, 72% of those polled said that George Bush's re-election made them "feel worse about Americans". http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,,1394375,00.html

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