Bush and Congress get poor grades

Most US voters remain deeply unhappy with President George W. Bush and Congress and give them negative marks for their handling of economic and foreign policy, according to a Reuters/Zogby poll released on Wednesday.
The poll found nearly two-thirds of Americans believe the country is on the wrong track and give Bush's job performance a bad grade. An even bigger majority of 83 percent say the Democratic-controlled Congress is only doing a fair or poor job. "The American people are in a foul mood right now and there is no sign of improvement," said pollster John Zogby. "They may be going on vacation this month, but they are coming back to the same old thing."
The bleak assessment of Bush and Congress, similar to their ratings last month, could be a danger signal for both parties heading into the November 2008 election campaign. "Americans could simply be in an anti-incumbent and anti-institutional mood," Zogby said. "Right now, nobody gets good marks."
The national survey of 1,020 likely voters, taken August 9 through August 11, found 67 percent ranked Bush's performance as fair or poor, with just 32 percent ranking it as excellent or good. That is down slightly from the 34 percent who gave him positive marks last month, but still above his low rating of 30 percent in March amid continued chaos in Iraq and partisan gridlock in Washington.
The dismal ratings for Congress have worsened since Democrats won power in the 2006 elections. Fifteen percent rate the performance of Congress as excellent or good, worse than the 23 percent who gave the Republican-led Congress positive marks in its final days last October.
Americans also have little faith in US economic and foreign policies, with 64 percent giving economic policy negative marks and 74 percent giving foreign policy a bad grade. The poll showed 64 percent of Americans think the country is on the wrong track, and only 24 percent think it is headed in the right direction.
While a quarter of the poll's respondents are at least somewhat uneasy about their job security, 59 percent rank their personal financial situation as either excellent or good.
More than half of respondents, 51 percent, said they felt only "fairly" safe from threats abroad, with 27 percent feeling very safe and 21 percent feeling not very safe or not safe at all. About 38 percent said they were "fairly" confident their children would lead a better life, with 26 percent very confident and 23 percent not very confident. Seven percent were not confident at all.