(Angus Reid Global Monitor) - Roughly one-in-four Americans are satisfied with the performance of their president, according to a review of four recent public opinion polls. In a survey by Gallup released by USA Today, 27 per cent of respondents approve of the way George W. Bush is handling his job, down four points since mid-September.

Bush’s rating stands at 26 per cent in a study by TNS for the Washington Post and ABC News, 23 per cent in a poll by Abt SRBI for Time, and 22 per cent in a survey by CBS News and the New York Times.

Bush—a Republican—earned a second four-year term in the November 2004 presidential election. The U.S. president’s approval rating has not surpassed the 40 per cent mark in a national survey since December 2006.

Since last year, defaults on so-called subprime mortgages—credit given to high-risk borrowers—have caused volatility in domestic and financial markets and raised concerns that the U.S. economy could fall into a recession.

Yesterday, the House of Representatives approved the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008—a modified version of a proposal for the federal government to purchase up to $700 billion U.S. in assets from finance companies that had been approved by the Senate.

Bush signed the bill into law, and declared, "It will take more time and determined effort to get through this difficult period. But with confidence and leadership and bipartisan cooperation, we’ll overcome the challenges we face, return our nation to a path of growth, and job creation, and long-term economic prosperity."

Polling Data

a) Do you approve or disapprove of the way George W. Bush is handling his job as president?

Source: Gallup / USA Today
Methodology: Telephone interviews with 1,011 American adults, conducted on Sept. 26 and Sept. 27, 2008. Margin of error is 3 per cent.

b) Do you approve or disapprove of the way George W. Bush is handling his job as president?

Source: TNS / Washington Post / ABC News
Methodology: Telephone interviews with 1,271 American adults, conducted from Sept. 27 to Sept. 29, 2008. Margin of error is 3 per cent.

c) In general, do you approve or disapprove of the way President Bush is handling his job as president?

Source: Abt SRBI / Time
Methodology: Telephone interviews with 1,133 likely American voters, conducted from Sept. 26 to Sept. 29, 2008. Margin of error is 3 per cent.

d) Do you approve or disapprove of the way George W. Bush is handling his job as president?

Source: CBS News / New York Times
Methodology: Telephone interviews with 936 American adults, conducted from Sept. 28 to Sept. 30, 2008. Margin of error is 3 per cent.

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