Bush gets high marks for economy

Published 9:00 pm Sunday, December 21, 2003

WASHINGTON — Amid rising consumer confidence, President Bush gets good marks for his handling of the economy from a clear majority of voters for the first time in more than a year, an Associated Press poll finds.

Many offered only qualified support, however.

The uptick in Bush’s rating comes as overall public confidence in the economy is as high as it’s been since early 2002, according to the national poll conducted last week for the AP by Ipsos-Public Affairs.

In all, 55 percent of registered voters said they approve of Bush’s handling of the economy and 43 percent disapproved, according to the survey. That’s Bush’s best number on this measure in Ipsos polls since the third quarter of 2002, though he briefly came close to this level — at 52 percent — in July of this year.

A month ago, 46 percent approved and 51 percent disapproved of Bush on the economy.

In the new survey, 23 percent said they strongly approve of Bush’s handling of the economy, 19 percent said they somewhat approve, and 13 percent initially reported mixed feelings but leaned toward approval. Bush’s strong approval score on the economy has hovered in the 20 percent area in Ipsos polls since sliding in early 2002 from around 30 percent.

Since October, consumers have grown increasingly optimistic. They are more upbeat about their local economy in the next six months, more comfortable making a major purchase and more confident about their job security, according to the poll.

Groups that have shifted toward approval of Bush on the economy in the past month in the poll are less-educated women, suburbanites, swing voters and Republicans.

Bush’s overall job approval rating was 59 percent, boosted by the rising confidence and the capture of deposed Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein more than a week ago.

While some people are gaining confidence the economy will grow stronger, many are not convinced.

Almost four in 10 respondents, or 37 percent, said they expect their local economy to get stronger in the next six months. But half, 51 percent, said they expect it will stay the same.

The AP-Ipsos poll of 1,001 adults was taken Dec. 15-17. It has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3 percentage points, slightly larger for subgroups such as registered voters.

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