Discontent Buffets the Nation;
Bush Craters, Obama Benefits
A tornado of economic discontent is buffeting the nation, sending satisfaction with the country’s direction to a 35-year low, George W. Bush’s approval rating below Richard Nixon’s worst – and Barack Obama, boosted by economic empathy, to his best-yet advantage in the presidential race.
Given the global economic crisis, a record 90 percent of registered voters say the country is seriously off on the wrong track, the most since this question first was asked in 1973.
At 23 percent, Bush’s job approval rating has fallen below Nixon’s lowest; it’s a point away from the lowest in 70 years of polling, set by Harry Truman in early 1952. Bush’s disapproval, meanwhile, is at an all-time record – 73 percent.
Powered chiefly by the public’s economic concerns, Obama leads John McCain by 10 points among likely voters, 53-43 percent, in this ABC News/Washington Post poll.
Though every race is different, no presidential candidate has come back from an October deficit this large in pre-election polls dating to 1936.
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