Bush re-election support falls

July 22 — The economy and the accounting scandals surrounding large corporations appear to be taking a heavy toll on President Bush’s popularity, according to two opinion surveys released Monday. In one of the polls, fewer than half of the likely voters questioned said they believe he should be re-elected.

THE ZOGBY America Poll, conducted Friday through Sunday, showed that 47 percent of likely voters believed that Bush deserved re-election, compared to 32 percent who said it was time for someone new.
The poll, conducted by the nonpartisan public opinion firm Zogby International of Genesee, N.Y., surveyed 1,003 likely voters nationwide. The poll reported a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3.2 percentage points.
The president appeared to suffer significant damage from the plummeting stock market and the accounting scandals, according to a separate poll.
In that survey, partial results of which were released Monday, 46 percent of adults questioned by NBC News and the Wall Street Journal said they disapproved of the job Bush was doing specifically on “the problems of the financial markets and major corporations.”