[Mb-civic] Bush job-approval ratings remain low>By Jeff Pruzan in New York

[Michael Butler]

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Bush job-approval ratings remain low
>By Jeff Pruzan in New York
>Published: April 13 2006 05:07 | Last updated: April 13 2006 05:07
>>

The US public continues to` express disappointment in President George W.
Bush¹s overall performance and acute dissatisfaction with the performance of
the Republican-led Congress, according to new survey data due for release on
Thursday.

Mr Bush¹s job-approval ratings have scarcely budged over the past month,
according to the latest Los Angeles Times/Bloomberg poll. According to the
survey, 39 per cent of Americans currently approve of Mr Bush¹s job
performance as president - up slightly from the poll¹s record-low 38 per
cent approval seen in early March - while 57 per cent disapprove.

The new figures echo similarly poor approval ratings in polls released in
the last week by AP/Ipsos and the Washington Post/ABC.

Mr Bush also continues to face weak public sentiment over his performance
handling the war in Iraq (37 per cent approval versus 59 per cent who
disapproved), the war on terrorism (43 per cent versus 53 per cent) and the
economy (39 per cent versus 57 per cent).

The president¹s job-performance figures represent a continued slump from
earlier this year, before controversies erupted over immigration, government
surveillance and a Dubai-based company¹s attempt to take over several US
port container facilities. In early January an LA Times/Bloomberg poll
showed 43 per cent job approval for Mr Bush.

Debate has since also grown louder since then over whether the insurgency in
Iraq has developed into a full civil war, and questions persist over
government surveillance of e-mail and phone conversations. The new poll
shows that opinion is split over government surveillance: 48 per cent
considered it acceptable and 47 per cent said it was not acceptable.

Well over half of respondents - 56 per cent - said Iraq is now engaged in
civil war. Fifty-eight per cent said it had not been worth going to war in
Iraq.

The emerging crisis over Iran¹s alleged nuclear programme also revealed
pessimism among respondents. More than half of respondents - 54 per cent -
said they did not trust Mr Bush to ³make the right decision² about whether
or not to invade Iran.

But Congress fared even more poorly than the White House among the latest
poll¹s 1,357 respondents. Just 28 per cent of those questioned approve of
Congress¹s job performance, compared with 61 per cent disapproval.

Forty-nine per cent of those polled said they would prefer to see Democrats
win their congressional districts in November¹s mid-term legislative
election, while 35 per cent would prefer Republicans. Half of respondents
would like to see the Democrats take control of Congress, while 37 per cent
hope Republicans remain in power.

All seats in the House of Representatives face elections in November, along
with 33 of 100 Senate seats.

Democrats, eager to regain control of Congress after being out of power
almost continually since the 1994 mid-term elections, appear to have public
sentiment on their side at the moment.

More respondents identified their own values with Democrats than with
Republicans - 44 per cent versus 38 per cent. Republicans were also seen as
more eager than Democrats to listen to lobbyists and ³special interests² -
35 per cent versus 26 per cent.

Democrats on the whole received better marks than Republicans in the areas
of the budget deficit, Social Security, prescription drugs for seniors,
immigration, and taxes. Republicans were seen as stronger than Democrats on
terrorism, while on Iraq, respondents gave Republicans a slim 34-33 per cent
edge.
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