Steyn falsely claims half the country approved of Bush

Written by Jocelyn Fong

Published

Conservative commentator Mark Steyn said on Fox News' Hannity that President Obama's “supposedly discredited predecessor” was a “50-50 president.” However, President Bush left office with an approval rating ranging from 24 percent to 34 percent in major polls and had not seen a 50-percent approval rating in these polls since mid-2005.

Steyn said Obama becoming a “50-50 president, like his supposedly discredited predecessor”

From the August 17 edition of Hannity:

STEYN: His personal rating is coming down now to meet the unpopularity of his policies. Basically, it's only a few weeks since Newsweek was telling us that he's a kind of god who bestrides the world like a colossus --

SEAN HANNITY (host): Right.

STEYN: -- and the more he's connected up with these policies, the more he's just another 50-50 president, like his supposedly discredited predecessor. And I think that's because most people -- a lot of people believed that he really was this post-partisan, centrist, pragmatic, fiscally conservative figure that he campaigned as, and as you and a few others pointed out, he's not.

He's -- the extreme left wing is where he's lived all his life, and he has a transformative domestic political agenda that people don't want. [Hannity, 8/17/09]

Bush's approval hadn't seen 50 since 2005

According to Pollster.com, in November 2008, Bush had an average approval rating of 25.7 percent, and an average disapproval rating of 68.9 percent. In most national polls, Bush dropped below 50 percent not long after his second inauguration and stayed under 50 percent for the remainder of his second term.

Washington Post/ABC had Bush at 33-percent approval. Washington Post/ABC News: Bush's approval was less than 50 percent from April 2005 until he left office, when 33 percent approved and 66 disapproved of the way he handled his job as president.

Fox News had him at 34 percent. Fox News/Opinion Dynamics: Bush's approval was less than 50 percent from March 2005 until he left office, when 34 percent approved and 58 percent disapproved of the job he was doing as president.

Bush was at 27-percent approval in NBC/WSJ poll. NBC News/Wall Street Journal: Bush's approval was less than 50 percent from July 2005 until he left office, when 27 percent approved and 67 percent disapproved of the job he was doing as president.

USA Today/Gallup had Bush at 34 percent. USA Today/Gallup: Bush's approval was less than 50 percent from May 2005 until he left office, when 34 percent approved and 61 percent disapproved of the way he handled his job as president.

Bush was at 24 percent in Pew poll. Pew Research Center for the People & the Press: Bush's approval was less than 50 percent from February 2005 until he left office, when 24 percent approved and 66 percent disapproved of the way he handled his job as president.

CNN reported Bush's approval at 31 percent. CNN/Opinion Research Corporation: According to data compiled by PollingReport.com, Bush's approval in the CNN/Opinion Research surveys was less than 50 percent from at least April 2006, when Opinion Research began conducting polls for CNN, until he left office, when 31 percent approved and 68 disapproved of the way he handled his job as president.