POLLS: Fretful Fall

Steadily slipping all year, President Eisenhower's popularity rating has hit its lowest since the 1954 congressional elections (see chart). In reply to his standard question ("Do you approve or disapprove of the way Eisenhower is handling his job as President?"), Pollster George Gallup last week reported these answers:

Approve.............. 57%

Disapprove............ 27%

No Opinion............ 16%

While the fretful summer of uninspiring battles with Congress over the budget probably entered into the decline, it was not the major reason. What was: the Administration's long battle for a strong civil rights bill, culminating in the Little Rock crisis. While Ike held to 65% in the East, 63% in the Midwest and 62% in the West, his rating in the South plunged from its 72% of last January, and its 51% of last July, to an all-time low of 36%.