Poll shows older Americans deserting Bush

The public’s confidence in President George Bush’s job performance and the United States’ direction have slipped in the opening weeks of his second term, particularly among people 50 and older, according to a poll.

Adults were evenly divided on Bush’s job performance in January, but now 54% disapprove and 45% approve, the Associated Press poll says. The number who think the country is headed down the wrong track increased from 51% to 58% in the past month.

But people are slightly more optimistic about the possibility of a stable, democratic Iraq.

The poll, conducted for the AP by Ipsos-Public Affairs, was taken after the president’s State of the Union address and the elections in Iraq and at the start of a heated debate over creating personal social security accounts.

Older Americans, especially those 65 and above, were most responsible for the declining confidence and approval numbers. Middle-aged people between 30 and 50 were about evenly split on Bush’s job performance.

“It looks like people are reacting to the State of the Union and plans to change social security,” said Charles Franklin, a political scientist from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

The AP poll did not ask about social security, although only four in 10 in the poll said they approved of Bush’s handling of domestic policy in general. And a majority of people disapproved of his handling of the economy.

The AP-Ipsos consumer confidence index found people were less optimistic about the economy generally, a dip that comes after reports of sluggish job gains and increasing interest rates.

The poll of 1,000 adults was taken Feb. 7-9 and has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus three percentage points.