US gives Bush thumbs down

2006-01-31 11:38

Washington - A majority of Americans are unhappy with President George W Bush's job performance, polls showed on Monday ahead of the US leader's annual State of the Union address.

In a Time magazine poll, 55% disapproved of Bush's handling of his job while 41% gave him the thumbs up. His approval rating was 12 points off the same period last year, the weekly said.

A separate NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll had nearly similar results, with 54% disapproving and 39% approving Bush's performance.

However, the January numbers were an improvement from November, when Americans split 57-38%, and it was the first time in several months that his job approval numbers increased, said NBC News.

War on terrorism

A majority of Americans (60%) disapproved of Bush's handling of Iraq, while 38% backed the president on the war, the Time survey showed. About 51% said it was wrong to go to war in Iraq.

His approval rating on the war on terrorism was down nine points from last January. The poll showed 47% approved and 48% disapproved of his handling of the anti-terror campaign.

A majority of Americans (51%) backed Bush's controversial domestic spying programme, although 56% said they were concerned that unnecessary wiretaps could be misused to violate people's privacy, the NBC/Wall Street Journal poll showed.

The Time poll surveyed 1 002 adults by telephone between January 24-26 and has a 3% margin of error.

The NBC/Wall Street Journal poll was taken January 26-29 among 1 011 adults and has a 3.1% margin of error.

Bush will deliver his State of the Union speech on Tuesday in the US Congress.

- SAPA