US President George W. Bush, in a bitter showdown with the Democrat-majority Congress over Iraq, has crept up a speck from an all-time low in his job approval rating. But his standing is the weakest of any second-term president at this point in 56 years.
The numbers in the latest AP-Ipsos poll gave the White House little reason for cheer as Bush opened a weeklong visit to Latin America to bolster US influence in the face of rising anti-American sentiment.
Weighed down by the unpopular war in Iraq, which is about to begin its fifth year, and opposition to his decision to send more troops into combat, Bush had an approval rating of 35 percent in early March. Still, that was up from 32 percent last month when his rating was tied for an all-time low in AP-Ipsos polling.
It now stands where it was in mid-January and in a range of where it was for most of last year.
Seizing on voters' frustration with the war, House Democrats challenged Bush with legislation Thursday requiring the withdrawal of US combat troops from Iraq by October next year. It would mark the first time the new Democratic-controlled Congress has established a date certain for the end of US combat.
The White House was quick to say Bush would veto the measure.
"It would unnecessarily handcuff our generals on the ground, and it's safe to say it's a non-starter for the president," presidential counselor Dan Bartlett said.
Bush's approval rating has not gotten above the 50 percent mark in AP-Ipsos polling since December 2004. Gallup has been tracking a similar job approval measure for presidents since the 1930s.
By Gallup's measure, Bush's numbers are the lowest for any president in the third March of his second term since Harry Truman in March 1951, when his approval rating was 28 percent.
The comparable numbers for other second-term presidents at this point were: Clinton 65 percent in March 1999, Reagan 45 percent in March 1987, Johnson 46 percent in March 1967 and Eisenhower 50 percent in March 1959.
Across the board, Bush's approval rating on a range of issues remained essentially changed from last month. Handling the economy was 41 percent, handling domestic issues was 37 percent, handling foreign policy issues and the war on terror was 38 percent and handing the situation in Iraq, 32 percent.
The only groups that noticeably increased their approval of Bush were women over 45 years of age, whose approval rating climbed 10 points to 33 percent compared with last month, and investors with family incomes between US$25,000 to US$50,000, whose approval rating climbed 11 points to 29 percent.
Bush also gained support among people living around the Great Lakes, where the approval rating jumped 12 points to 40 percent, and in Great Plains and Mountain States, where it was up 10 points to 36 percent.
The AP-Ipsos poll of 1,000 adults was conducted March 5-7. It had a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.
Four people jailed in the landmark Hong Kong national security trial of "47 democrats" accused of conspiracy to commit subversion were freed today after more than four years behind bars, the second group to be released in a month. Among those freed was long-time political and LGBTQ activist Jimmy Sham (岑子杰), who also led one of Hong Kong’s largest pro-democracy groups, the Civil Human Rights Front, which disbanded in 2021. "Let me spend some time with my family," Sham said after arriving at his home in the Kowloon district of Jordan. "I don’t know how to plan ahead because, to me, it feels
The collapse of the Swiss Birch glacier serves as a chilling warning of the escalating dangers faced by communities worldwide living under the shadow of fragile ice, particularly in Asia, experts said. Footage of the collapse on Wednesday showed a huge cloud of ice and rubble hurtling down the mountainside into the hamlet of Blatten. Swiss Development Cooperation disaster risk reduction adviser Ali Neumann said that while the role of climate change in the case of Blatten “still needs to be investigated,” the wider impacts were clear on the cryosphere — the part of the world covered by frozen water. “Climate change and
Poland is set to hold a presidential runoff election today between two candidates offering starkly different visions for the country’s future. The winner would succeed Polish President Andrzej Duda, a conservative who is finishing his second and final term. The outcome would determine whether Poland embraces a nationalist populist trajectory or pivots more fully toward liberal, pro-European policies. An exit poll by Ipsos would be released when polls close today at 9pm local time, with a margin of error of plus or minus 2 percentage points. Final results are expected tomorrow. Whoever wins can be expected to either help or hinder the
DENIAL: Musk said that the ‘New York Times was lying their ass off,’ after it reported he used so much drugs that he developed bladder problems Elon Musk on Saturday denied a report that he used ketamine and other drugs extensively last year on the US presidential campaign trail. The New York Times on Friday reported that the billionaire adviser to US President Donald Trump used so much ketamine, a powerful anesthetic, that he developed bladder problems. The newspaper said the world’s richest person also took ecstasy and mushrooms, and traveled with a pill box last year, adding that it was not known whether Musk also took drugs while heading the so-called US Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) after Trump took power in January. In a
RSS