Bush Approval Ratings Plunge 28 Points to 59% in State

By: Ethan Fry

A Quinnipiac University poll Thursday showed President Bush's Connecticut approval ratings have dropped drastically from post-Sept. 11 levels.

Bush's overall approval rating in the state is now at 59%, down 28 points from his all-time high of 87% in December.

And 48% of Connecticut voters disapprove of the way Bush handled recent business scandals, compared to 40% who approve of his behavior, the poll said.

People interviewed in downtown Bridgeport Thursday generally agreed with the Hamden University's poll results, despite Bush's high-profile visit to Bridgeport in April.

"Presidents always take the blame for a bad economy, or take credit for a good one", said Felipe Hura, 34, a store manager from Bridgeport. "Now that the economy is bad, Bush has to deal with it. He hasn't dealt with business scandals very well, and I don't like that."

"I've never liked Bush, and with all this stuff going on with big business and everything, I still don't like him. I think someone else, even another Republican, can do a better job than he is doing right now", said Diane Baldwin, 46, a bank teller from Bridgeport.

Meanwhile, the poll showed only minor declines in the approval ratings of Connecticut's two U.S. Senators.

Douglas Schwartz, Quinnipiac University Poll director, said a continued Bush ratings slide could ruin any benefit he might offer Republican candidates in Connecticut and other states in fall elections.

Voters are nearly split on the way the President is handling the economy overall, with 46% approving and 47% disapproving.

"That's where he gets the low marks", Schwartz said. "After Sept. 11, the focus was on the fight against terrorism. Now the attention has turned to the economy and the stock market."

Schwartz believes that if Bush doesn't deal with the economy better, he could end up a one-term President like his father, who lost to Bill Clinton in the 1992 presidential election because of a sluggish economy.

"It's something that he has to be concerned about", Schwartz said. "You don't know what's going to happen with the economy and the stock market, or whether he'll be more effective in responding to the economy than his father was."

The economy was on the minds of many people questioned in downtown Bridgeport.

"I never really cared for Bush at all", said Crystal Miller, 38, a mortgage appraiser from Bridgeport. "I think he takes things very lightly and he's been very slow with the economy. I don't really think he's handling the whole thing very well."

Ming-Hua Stevens, 23, a student from Bridgeport, concurred. "I didn't think Bush was doing a great job, but there was a lot of support after Sept. 11, and I think it was important to support the government then," she said. "Now that the economy has been down, my support isn't as strong. I never thought he was really great, and now with the economy the way it is he'll have to change things soon."

"He's still popular, and he still has a good approval rating, but it's not like the sky-high approval rating he had during December", Schwartz said.

Schwartz also said that it "will be interesting to see" whether Bush's falling approval ratings will affect Gov. John G. Rowland, a friend of the President.

"As the stock market has declined, so have both of their numbers", Schwartz said. "If Bush campaigned for Rowland he would be less effective."

Schwartz said the results of this poll were not surprising. "We expected it, because that's what we've been seeing in the national polls", he said.

Although the poll showed plunging approval for Bush, ratings for Sens. Christopher J. Dodd and Joseph I. Lieberman, both Democrats, have dipped only slightly.

Dodd's approval is at 61%, down from 63% in December, and Lieberman's approval is at 64%, down from 71% in December.

Voters also were questioned about the state's economy, with 6% saying that it is "very good", 68% saying it is "fairly good", 20% saying it is "fairly bad", and 6% saying it is "very bad".

Also, 47% of state voters are "very concerned" about the recent stock market drop, while 33% are "somewhat concerned".

The poll was taken from July 23 to 29, with 1,092 registered Connecticut voters surveyed. It has a 3% margin of error.