President Bush Gets Poor Marks on Handling of Israeli/Palestinian Issue and Afghanistan

ROCHESTER, N.Y.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Even though President Bush is preparing to embark on a trip to the Middle East, including a stop in Israel, the American public does not give him positive marks on his handling of several issues relating to that area of the world. Three out of five Americans (62%) give the President a negative rating on his handling of the Israeli/Palestinian issue while only 25 percent give him positive marks. Looking at how President Bush has handled the situation in Afghanistan over the past several months, just one-quarter of Americans (26%) give him positive ratings while 63 percent give him negative ratings.

These are some of the findings of a Harris Poll of 2,335 adults surveyed online between December 4 and 12, 2007 by Harris Interactive®.

For most of his two terms in office, one of President Bush’s main policy initiatives has been the war on terror. The American people, however, do not give him positive marks for his handling of this over the past few months. Just one-third (32%) give the President positive ratings for his handling of the war on terror while 61 percent give him negative ratings.

Attitudes on the President’s handling of these three foreign policy issues is highly polarized by party with majorities of Republicans giving him positive marks on the war on terror (66%) and Afghanistan (56%) and half of Republicans giving him positive marks on his handling of the Israeli/Palestinian issue. Almost no Democrats and only small minorities of Independents give him positive marks on any of these.

While President Bush does manage to hold on to a majority of Republicans for these three issues, the same can not be said for Conservatives. While 59 percent of Conservatives give him positive marks for his handling of the war on terror, just under half hive him positive marks on his handling of Afghanistan (49%) and the Israeli/Palestinian issue (46%). Again, almost no Liberals and only small numbers of Independents give him positive marks on these issues.

So What?

A lot has been written about the hopes of the President and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice that they could leave a legacy of at least one major foreign policy success. In fact, this is the reason for the first international trip of his last year in office. The American people, however, are not optimistic that this will happen with the Israeli/Palestine issue, in Afghanistan or even with the war on terror. And, of course, the polls continue to give him overwhelmingly negative ratings on Iraq.

TABLE 1 RATING OF PRESIDENT BUSH ON WAR ON TERROR, AFGHANISTAN, ISRAELI/PALESTINIAN ISSUE "How would you rate the job that President Bush has done in handling the following over the last few months?"
Base: All Adults
		Excellent	Pretty Good	Only Fair	Poor	Not Sure	Positive*	Negative**
War on Terror	%	11	21	24	38	6	32	61
Afghanistan	%	6	19	23	39	12	26	63
Israeli/Palestinian issue	%	5	20	29	34	13	25	62
Note: Percentages may not add up exactly to 100% due to rounding. * Positive = excellent or pretty good. ** Negative = only fair or poor

TABLE 2 POSITIVE RATINGS OF PRESIDENT BUSH ON WAR ON TERROR, AFGHANISTAN, ISRAELI/PALESTINIAN ISSUE – BY PARTY AND POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY “How would you rate the job that President Bush has done in handling the following over the last few months?” (Those saying “excellent” or “pretty good”)
Base: All Adults
	Total	Political Party				Political Philosophy
		Rep.	Dem.	Ind.		Cons.	Mod.	Lib.
	%	%	%	%		%	%	%
War on terror	32	66	11	26		59	25	12
Afghanistan	26	56	5	22		49	20	5
Israeli/Palestinian issue	25	50	8	23		45	20	98
Note: Percentages may not add up exactly to 100% due to rounding.

Methodology

This Harris Poll^® was conducted online within the United States between December 4 and 12, 2007 among 2,335 adults (aged 18 and over). Figures for age, sex, race/ethnicity, education, region and household income were weighted where necessary to bring them into line with their actual proportions in the population. Propensity score weighting was also used to adjust for respondents’ propensity to be online.

All sample surveys and polls, whether or not they use probability sampling, are subject to multiple sources of error which are most often not possible to quantify or estimate, including sampling error, coverage error, error associated with nonresponse, error associated with question wording and response options, and post-survey weighting and adjustments. Therefore, Harris Interactive avoids the words “margin of error” as they are misleading. All that can be calculated are different possible sampling errors with different probabilities for pure, unweighted, random samples with 100% response rates. These are only theoretical because no published polls come close to this ideal.

Respondents for this survey were selected from among those who have agreed to participate in Harris Interactive surveys. The data have been weighted to reflect the composition of the adult population. Because the sample is based on those who agreed to participate in the Harris Interactive panel, no estimates of theoretical sampling error can be calculated.

These statements conform to the principles of disclosure of the National Council on Public Polls.

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About Harris Interactive

Harris Interactive is the 13th largest and one of the fastest-growing market research firms in the world. The company provides innovative research, insights and strategic advice to help its clients make more confident decisions which lead to measurable and enduring improvements in performance. Harris Interactive is widely known for The Harris Poll, one of the longest running, independent opinion polls and for pioneering online market research methods. The company has built what it believes to be the world’s largest panel of survey respondents, the Harris Poll Online. Harris Interactive serves clients worldwide through its North American, European and Asian offices, and through a global network of independent market research firms. More information about Harris Interactive may be obtained at www.harrisinteractive.com.

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