EMBARGOED FOR RELEASE AFTER 5 p.m. Monday, Jan. 17, 2005
Iraq Looms Large Over 2nd Bush Term; Ratings are Tepid, Expectations Mixed
George W. Bush approaches his second inauguration with a comparatively weak job approval rating, subdued expectations for his performance in office and the daunting challenge of a single issue with the potential to make or break his second term: Iraq.
While the president has signaled an intention to focus on selected domestic issues, it's Iraq that dominates public concern. Sixty-one percent give it a "highest priority" rating for Bush and the Congress to address, easily the most among a dozen issues tested in this ABC News/Washington Post poll. Thirty-five percent, by contrast, give that level of priority to Social Security, and far fewer still to either immigration issues or tort reform.
Reflecting their political mood - hardly celebratory - Americans even express doubt about the president's inaugural plans, saying by more than a 2-1 margin, 66-32 percent, that because the country is at war they'd prefer a smaller and more subdued inauguration to the $40 million bash (largely privately funded) the administration plans this week.
Bush's overall job approval rating stands at 52 percent, about its average across election-year 2004 and well below his career average, 64 percent. Perhaps more tellingly, of the seven presidents elected to a second term in the last 56 years, only one - Richard Nixon - received as tepid an approval rating on the eve of his second inauguration. Indeed Bush's rating is 13 points below the pre-inaugural average for the last six second-termers.