Young White Evangelical Support for Bush

Bush’s approval rating has fallen fairly steadily among almost every segment of the American public, but the drop in support has been particularly significant among white evangelicals ages 18-29. This group was among Bush’s strongest supporters in the beginning of his presidency; in 2002, for example, an overwhelming majority (87%) approved of Bush’s job performance. By August 2007, however, Bush’s approval rating among this group had plummeted by 42 percentage points, with most of the drop (25 points) coming since 2005. By contrast, Bush’s job approval among older generations of white evangelicals (those ages 30 and older) has undergone a much more gradual decline, falling 28 points since 2002 and just 11 points since 2005. Despite the steep decline in their support for the president since 2005, however, younger white evangelicals still remain significantly more likely than the overall population in this age group to approve of the president (45% vs. 28%, a 17-percentage-point gap). Read More