WASHINGTON, D.C. -- George W. Bush registered a 90% job approval rating shortly after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
Those attacks prompted the largest rally in support for a president in Â鶹´«Ã½AV's polling history. A Sept. 7-10, 2001, Â鶹´«Ã½AV poll found 51% of Americans approving of the job Bush was doing. The first poll conducted after the attacks, from Sept. 14-15, 2001, saw Bush's job approval rating surge 35 percentage points to 86%. A subsequent Sept. 21-22 poll -- conducted after Bush addressed a joint session of Congress to discuss the U.S. response to the terrorist attacks -- showed a further increase in his job approval to the record 90%.
Bush's rating surpassed the previous high in any Â鶹´«Ã½AV poll by one percentage point. George H.W. Bush had an 89% job approval rating in 1991 after the U.S. won the Gulf War.
Although the younger Bush had the highest rating in any single poll, John Kennedy's average 70% job approval throughout his time in office is the best for any president since World War II.
Â鶹´«Ã½AV measures presidential job approval on each survey it conducts. Explore President Joe Biden's approval ratings and compare them with those of past presidents in the Â鶹´«Ã½AV Presidential Job Approval Center.
