Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Tuesday, October 14, 2003
Poll shows Bush's approval rating moves back up
US President George W. Bush's job approval rating that had seen declining in recent weeks has moved back up to 56 percent, a CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll released Monday showed.
US President George W. Bush's job approval rating that had seen declining in recent weeks has moved back up to 56 percent, a CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll released Monday showed.
The rating demonstrated a significant rise from a similar poll conducted on Sept. 19-21, which gave the president an approval rating of 50 percent.
A majority of registered voters - 53 percent - said Bush deserves to be re-elected, but only 38 percent said they would definitely vote for him.
Bush's approval rating had slid in recent weeks, as Democrats, particularly those seeking their party's 2004 presidential nomination, stepped up rhetorical attacks on Bush's Iraq policy and his stewardship of the economy.
Over the past few days, key administration officials have been taking part in an aggressive public relations effort to defend thepresident's Iraq policy, and Bush is speaking out more on the economy.
Forty-four percent say the economy is in good shape, up seven points since March, and nearly two-thirds say that the economy will be in good shape a year from now.
In the list of Democrats vying to replace Bush, retired generalWesley Clark remained at the top with 18 percent of support, followed by former Vermont governor Howard Dean and Senator Joe Lieberman each with 13 percent of the support.
The poll, based on interviews with 1,004 registered voters, wasconducted by telephone between Oct. 10-12, with a sampling error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.