Changes

==Polls==

==Polls==

Before Bush took office in 2001, 43% of Americans thought he would be a good president, a view that sharply reversed by the end of his second term. According to the final Gallup poll, George W. Bush ended his presidency with an approval rating of 22%, the lowest of any outgoing president in the poll's 76 year history. He squarely defeats the runner-up, Harry Truman, by a generous margin of 10%. According to the Gallup poll, 73% of Americans said they disapproved of how Bush had used his presidency in the last 8 years. Also, 50% of the population believed he had been a poor president, 33% believed he had been an average president, only 12% believed he was a good president, and only a shockingly low 5% believed he was a very good president.

When Bush entered office, his popularity rating was near 50%.  However, after the [[September 11]] attacks, his popularity rose significantly, reaching an all-time high of 90%.<ref>[http://blogs.usatoday.com/onpolitics/2007/07/usatgallup-po-1.html USAT Gallup Poll]</ref>  Since, then, though, it declined as some of his policies have become unpopular (largely due to the media's persistently negative -- and [[liberal bias|biased]] -- reporting on the [[Iraq War]] and misrepresentation of his policies).<ref> Historical Bush Approval Ratings from University of Minnesota [http://www.hist.umn.edu/~ruggles/Approval.htm] </ref>  In 2007, Bush had an approval rating of only 24%. <ref>[http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSN1624620720071017?feedType=RSS&feedName=topNews&rpc=22&sp=true Voters unhappy with Bush and Congress], Reuters, October 17 2007</ref> The same poll gave the Democratic controlled Congress an approval rating of only 11%). <ref>[http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews]</ref>

 

However, Bush's one point of distinction with approval ratings is that he held the highest approval rating of any president, however briefly. He held this lofty rating of 90% immediately after the 9/11 attacks, when the nation was united by crisis, and rallied around the government. Ironically, it was when Bush attempted to take action against Al-Qaeda that his aprroval ratings plummeted.