Report Summary

With the State of the Union Address days away, a majority of the American people (52 percent) want President George Bush to call for a public works program to put the unemployed back to work as their first choice to revitalize the economy. President Bush’s job approval rating continues to drop (46%) as he fails, thus far, to convince the American public that he is doing all he can to improve the economy. The Republican party’s image is also being hurt by the current climate of opinion. Recent efforts notwithstanding, fully 76% of the public thinks the President could be doing more to improve economic conditions, while only 21% think he is doing as much as he can. Even a 64% majority of Republicans think the President is not doing enough to mend the economy.