WASHINGTON: George W. Bush begins his second term with a lower approval rating than any other US president after their re-election in the past five decades, reports Xinhua.


Only 50 percent of Americans approve Bush's job performance, the lowest for a re-elected president since 1957, according to a poll by the Pew Research Centre for People and the Press.

Bill Clinton, Ronald Reagan, Richard Nixon, Lyndon Johnson and Dwight Eisenhower all enjoyed higher approval ratings when they took office for a second term, the survey among 1,503 Americans showed.


The poll found that 43 percent of the respondents disapprove of Bush's job performance, higher than those for Clinton, Reagan, Nixon, Johnson and Eisenhower as they began their second term.


Bush is proposing a second term policy agenda that differs in several key respects from that of the public, according to the survey.


Healthcare, aid for the poor and the growing budget deficit are important public priorities, while limiting lawsuit awards, making tax cuts permanent and tax simplification rank near the bottom of the public's agenda.


While the Bush administration has targeted social security as a major issue in its second term, the public believes the healthcare system currently is in greater need of repair than all other subjects.


On the Iraq issue, 49 percent of polled people think the situation will not change much after the Jan 30 elections there.


Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/990300.cms