President Bush’s marks on overall job approval and for handling the
economy are mired near their lowest levels despite a spike in consumer
confidence over the past month, an AP-Ipsos poll found.
Bush’s
job approval is now at 40 percent and his approval on handling the
economy at 39 percent. Those numbers haven’t budged over the last month
even with the public’s confidence in the economy growing and the
president delivering an upbeat State of the Union address.
Consumer confidence was measured at its highest level in 16 months in the RBC CASH index released Friday.
The
AP-Ipsos poll found that the president has slightly improved his
standing on handling foreign policy and terrorism to 47 percent. This
comes as the public has grown more accepting of the administration’s
policy on domestic eavesdropping, with almost half now supporting it _
up from 42 percent last month.
The president has been campaigning
aggressively for that program over the last month, repeatedly telling
people that eavesdropping on some international calls is legal and
necessary in his war against terrorism.
The poll found low
approval of Congress with 47 percent wanting Democrats to take control.
Republican control was favored by 37 percent.
The telephone poll
of 1,000 adults was conducted Monday through Wednesday and has a margin
of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.
