Harris Interactive puts Bush approval under 30%

By Lee Russ

Friday, May 12, 2006 at 05:17 PM

As detailed in the Wall Street Journal, Harris Interactive's most recent Bush poll puts his approval rating at 29%.

Of 1,003 U.S. adults surveyed in a telephone poll, 29% think Mr. Bush is doing an "excellent or pretty good" job as president, down from 35% in April and significantly lower than 43% in January. It compares with 71% of Americans who said Mr. Bush is doing an "only fair or poor" job, up from 63% in April.

Meanwhile, approval ratings for Congress are also sliding, as 18% of Americans say Congress is doing an "excellent or pretty good job," compared with 80% who say Congress is doing an "only fair or poor" job. In February, 25% of Americans gave Congress a positive rating and 71% gave a negative rating.

Elsewhere, roughly one-quarter of U.S. adults say "things in the country are going in the right direction," while 69% say "things have pretty seriously gotten off on the wrong track." This trend has declined every month since January, when 33% said the nation was heading in the right direction.

In terms of political-party identification, 48% of Republicans said "right direction" while 39% of Republicans said "wrong track." In comparison, just 13% of Democrats said "right direction" and 83% of Democrats responded with "wrong track."