February 20, 2008

Concerns over Economy Push
George W. Bush's Overall Job Approval to New Low

George W. Bush's overall job approval rating has dropped to a new low in American Research Group polling as 78% of Americans say that the national economy is getting worse according to the latest survey from the American Research Group.

Among all Americans, 19% approve of the way Bush is handling his job as president and 77% disapprove. When it comes to Bush's handling of the economy, 14% approve and 79% disapprove.

Among Americans registered to vote, 18% approve of the way Bush is handling his job as president and 78% disapprove. When it comes to the way Bush is handling the economy, 15% of registered voters approve of the way Bush is handling the economy and 79% disapprove.

A total of 78% of Americans say the national economy is getting worse and 47% say the national economy is in a recession. A total of 42% of Americans, however, say they believe the national economy will be better a year from now, which is the highest level for this question in the past year. This optimism does not spread to improvements in household financial situations as 17% of Americans say they expect their household financial situations to be better a year from now, which is the lowest for this question in the past year.

The results presented here are based on 1,100 completed telephone interviews conducted among a nationwide random sample of adults 18 years and older. The interviews were completed February 16 through 19, 2008. The theoretical margin of error for the total sample is plus or minus 2.6 percentage points, 95% of the time, on questions where opinion is evenly split.

Overall, 19% of Americans say that they approve of the way George W. Bush is handling his job as president, 77% disapprove, and 4% are undecided.

Bush job approval	Approve	Disapprove	Undecided
Feb 2008	19%	77%	4%
Jan 2008	34%	59%	7%
Dec 2007	32%	66%	2%
Nov 2007	31%	64%	5%
Oct 2007	25%	67%	8%
Sep 2007	34%	60%	6%
Aug 2007	28%	65%	7%
Jul 2007	25%	71%	4%
Jun 2007	27%	67%	6%
May 2007	31%	64%	5%
Apr 2007	33%	62%	5%
Mar 2007	32%	63%	5%
Feb 2007	39%	56%	5%

Among Republicans (29% of adults registered to vote in the survey), 45% approve of the way Bush is handling his job and 50% disapprove. Among Democrats (43% of adults registered to vote in the survey), 1% approve and 99% disapprove of the way Bush is handling his job. Among independents (28% of adults registered to vote in the survey), 17% approve and 75% disapprove of the way Bush is handling his job as president.

Overall, 14% of Americans say that they approve of the way George W. Bush is handling the economy, 79% disapprove, and 7% are undecided. Among registered voters, 15% approve and 79% disapprove of the way Bush is handling the economy.

Bush handling the economy	Approve	Disapprove	Undecided
Feb 2008	14%	79%	7%
Jan 2008	29%	63%	8%
Dec 2007	28%	71%	1%
Nov 2007	32%	62%	6%
Oct 2007	23%	67%	10%
Sep 2007	33%	58%	9%
Aug 2007	29%	64%	7%
Jul 2007	23%	73%	4%
Jun 2007	29%	64%	7%
May 2007	31%	62%	7%
Apr 2007	33%	63%	4%
Mar 2007	32%	64%	4%
Feb 2007	40%	54%	6%

Among Republicans, 41% approve of the way Bush is handling the economy and 54% disapprove. Among Democrats, 93% disapprove of the way Bush is handling the economy and 1% approve. Among independents, 8% approve and 83% disapprove of the way Bush is handling the economy.

A total of 1% of Americans say that the national economy is getting better, 20% say it is staying the same, and 78% say the national economy is getting worse.

National economy	Getting better	Staying the same	Getting worse	Undecided
Feb 2008	1%	20%	78%	1%
Jan 2008	8%	22%	64%	6%
Dec 2007	7%	28%	64%	1%
Nov 2007	18%	26%	55%	1%
Oct 2007	8%	18%	69%	5%
Sep 2007	14%	20%	63%	3%
Aug 2007	8%	29%	59%	4%
Jul 2007	12%	28%	58%	2%
Jun 2007	16%	28%	55%	1%
May 2007	19%	24%	53%	4%
Apr 2007	23%	17%	59%	1%
Mar 2007	19%	29%	50%	2%
Feb 2007	22%	20%	57%	1%

Among those saying they approve of the way Bush is handling his job, 1% say getting better, 52% say staying the same, and 41% say getting worse. Of those saying they disapprove of the way Bush is handling his job, none say getting better, 14% say staying the same, and 86% say getting worse.

A total of 42% of Americans say they believe the national economy will be better a year from now, 30% say it will be the same, 27% say it will be worse, and 1% are undecided.

National economy a year from now	Better than today	The same as today	Worse than today	Undecided
Feb 2008	42%	30%	27%	1%
Jan 2008	32%	35%	21%	12%
Dec 2007	28%	28%	43%	1%
Nov 2007	24%	29%	39%	8%
Oct 2007	18%	27%	53%	2%
Sep 2007	32%	26%	38%	4%
Aug 2007	32%	20%	42%	6%
Jul 2007	22%	31%	42%	5%
Jun 2007	22%	33%	42%	3%
May 2007	16%	29%	48%	7%
Apr 2007	26%	29%	41%	4%
Mar 2007	22%	27%	49%	2%
Feb 2007	29%	23%	44%	4%

Among those saying they approve of the way Bush is handling his job, 93% say better and 3% say worse than today. Among those saying they disapprove of the way Bush is handling his job as president, 32% say better, 34% say the same, and 33% say worse.

Overall, 47% of Americans say they believe that the national economy is in a recession, 29% say they do not believe the economy is in a recession, and 24% are undecided.

National economy in a recession	Yes	No	Undecided
Feb 2008	47%	29%	24%
Jan 2008	35%	24%	41%
Dec 2007	7%	28%	65%
Nov 2007	34%	41%	25%
Oct 2007	40%	38%	22%
Sep 2007	25%	52%	23%
Aug 2007	31%	38%	31%
Jul 2007	29%	37%	34%
Jun 2007	22%	41%	37%
May 2007	36%	38%	26%
Apr 2007	28%	53%	19%
Mar 2007	25%	46%	29%
Feb 2007	19%	57%	24%

Among those saying they approve of the way Bush is handling his job, 16% say the national economy is in a recession, 64% say is it not in a recession, and 20% are undecided. Of those saying they disapprove of the way Bush is handling his job, 53% say the national economy is in a recession, 20% say the national economy is not in a recession, and 27% are undecided.

A total of 25% of Americans rate the national economy as excellent, very good, or good and 74% rate it as bad, very bad, or terrible.

National economy	Excellent	Very good	Good	Bad	Very bad	Terrible	Undecided
Feb 2008	1%	7%	17%	44%	10%	20%	1%
Jan 2008	2%	14%	27%	21%	17%	18%	1%
Dec 2007	7%	16%	12%	31%	16%	17%	1%
Nov 2007	16%	11%	21%	25%	12%	14%	1%
Oct 2007	8%	10%	20%	29%	14%	18%	1%
Sep 2007	13%	14%	21%	27%	7%	17%	1%
Aug 2007	9%	19%	21%	22%	16%	12%	1%
Jul 2007	9%	11%	23%	28%	12%	16%	1%
Jun 2007	16%	11%	20%	31%	9%	12%	1%
May 2007	12%	15%	16%	25%	16%	15%	1%
Apr 2007	17%	12%	29%	30%	8%	3%	1%
Mar 2007	16%	13%	25%	26%	12%	5%	3%
Feb 2007	12%	18%	26%	23%	3%	15%	3%

Among those saying they approve of the way Bush is handling his job, 66% say excellent, very good, or good and 33% say bad, very bad, or terrible. Among those saying they disapprove of  the way Bush is handling his job, 85% say bad, very bad, or terrible and 14% say excellent, very good, or good.

When it comes to rating their household financial situations, 59% of Americans give an excellent, very good, or good rating and 40% give a bad, very bad, or terrible rating.

Household financial situation	Excellent	Very good	Good	Bad	Very bad	Terrible	Undecided
Feb 2008	6%	17%	36%	22%	11%	7%	1%
Jan 2008	12%	13%	45%	15%	6%	8%	1%
Dec 2007	14%	16%	36%	12%	17%	4%	1%
Nov 2007	13%	14%	38%	27%	6%	1%	1%
Oct 2007	11%	22%	32%	27%	2%	5%	1%
Sep 2007	12%	17%	44%	18%	3%	5%	1%
Aug 2007	11%	19%	25%	33%	9%	2%	1%
Jul 2007	5%	24%	39%	15%	9%	7%	1%
Jun 2007	8%	19%	41%	22%	6%	3%	1%
May 2007	15%	9%	38%	19%	12%	6%	1%
Apr 2007	11%	16%	51%	17%	3%	1%	1%
Mar 2007	11%	16%	44%	24%	2%	2%	1%
Feb 2007	11%	19%	29%	28%	7%	4%	2%

Among those saying they approve of the way Bush is handling his job, 100% say excellent, very good, or good. Among those saying they disapprove of the way Bush is handling his job, 46% say excellent, very good, or good and 53% say bad, very bad, or terrible.

A total of 8% of Americans say they think the financial situations in their households are getting better, 45% say staying the same, and 41% say getting worse.

Household financial situation	Getting better	Staying the same	Getting worse	Undecided
Feb 2008	8%	45%	41%	6%
Jan 2008	22%	25%	49%	4%
Dec 2007	20%	50%	29%	1%
Nov 2007	14%	54%	26%	6%
Oct 2007	17%	45%	35%	3%
Sep 2007	24%	39%	34%	3%
Aug 2007	21%	37%	41%	1%
Jul 2007	15%	47%	37%	1%
Jun 2007	11%	48%	37%	4%
May 2007	21%	44%	34%	1%
Apr 2007	24%	41%	31%	4%
Mar 2007	20%	40%	39%	1%
Feb 2007	18%	46%	34%	2%

Among those saying they approve of the way Bush is handling his job, 29% say getting better, 52% say staying the same, and 12% say getting worse. Among those saying they disapprove of the way Bush is handling his job, 4% say getting better, 40% say staying the same, and 48% say getting worse.

Looking to a year from now, 17% of Americans say that they think their household financial situations will be better than today, 52% say the same as today, and 25% say worse than today.

Household financial situation a year from now	Better than today	The same as today	Worse than today	Undecided
Feb 2008	17%	52%	25%	6%
Jan 2008	28%	41%	24%	7%
Dec 2007	36%	37%	25%	2%
Nov 2007	29%	43%	19%	9%
Oct 2007	26%	48%	23%	3%
Sep 2007	48%	29%	18%	5%
Aug 2007	32%	33%	24%	11%
Jul 2007	34%	39%	22%	5%
Jun 2007	29%	39%	23%	9%
May 2007	29%	33%	33%	5%
Apr 2007	30%	33%	36%	1%
Mar 2007	35%	30%	29%	6%
Feb 2007	38%	46%	12%	4%

Among those saying they approve of the way Bush is handling his job, 32% say better than today, 52% say the same as today, and 16% say worse than today. Among those saying they disapprove of the way Bush is handling his job, 14% say better than today, 50% say the same as today, and 29% say worse than today.