Lowest of his Presidency.
Group Hug?
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Lowest of his Presidency.
Group Hug?
Not surpising. But it really doesn't matter b/c the election wasn't a referendum on Bush (apparently), and there were enough people who didn't like Bush but disliked Kerry more than enough to defeat him.
Oh, I don't know. If there's anything this board teaches me, it's that NO ONE wants to admit when he/she's wrong. This poll reveals that at least SOME people are willing to admit they've blown it. At least symbolically.Quote:
Originally Posted by pedro
I think this should be expected, considering the President has been going smash-mouth with his agenda. I dont think it is a stretch to think that budget cuts and privatization are turning off some moderates.
Problem is, the polls fluctuate wildly.
Bush's approval rating was in the dumper before 9/11 and went into the stratosphere almost overnight after the WTC tragedy. He also saw a major boost after invading Iraq.
The only thing the approval polls tell us for certain is that the american public is fickle.
Hey, I can admit I am wrong. I voted for My Man Mitch Daniels for Indiana governor. I was wrong wrong wrong. I also voted for Bush. I blew it. However, I still think that voting for Kerry would have been wronger wronger wronger. :) :(Quote:
Originally Posted by Falls City Beer
Historically, approval ratings go down in the second term. Second-termers tend to do more radical things to burnish their legacy, such as introduce a plan to overhaul Social Security, because they don't need to accumulate political capital for a re-election bid.
This is no surprise.
Don't be surprised (or crow) if the GOP loses seats in the '06 Congressional elections, either. It's a historical trend.
What makes those who voted for Bush wrong? I don't see the poll as expressing voter remorse at voting for Bush. They knew when they voted for him this 2nd time what his agenda was. They didn't know what Kerry's was.Quote:
Originally Posted by Falls City Beer
I place little value/faith in polls. If his approval rating rises back up over 50%, does that then mean those who voted for Bush were right? ;)
And why didn't you post the article?
Here I will, and I emphasized the last paragraph. ;)
Bush hits a new low in polls for job approval
By Ron Hutcheson
Knight Ridder Newspapers
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WASHINGTON President Bush's job-approval rating has sunk to 45 percent, the worst of his presidency, amid public opposition at his intervention in the Terri Schiavo case and growing concern over gasoline prices.
The 45 percent rating is a far cry from his record 90 percent approval after the Sept. 11 attacks, but it's still well above the low marks scored by most recent presidents.
Except for a slight bounce after the Jan. 30 Iraqi elections, Bush's job-approval rating has been stuck in the high 40s to low 50s since early 2004. The Gallup polling organization tests the president's standing almost weekly by asking voters if they "approve or disapprove of the way George W. Bush is handling his job."
Pollsters attributed the president's lackluster showing to economic worries, high fuel prices and a public backlash against his entry into the Schiavo case. The CNN/USA Today/Gallup nationwide survey of 1,001 adults the margin of error is plus or minus 3 percentage points was conducted Monday through Wednesday, after Bush signed legislation that gave federal courts a chance to decide whether Schiavo should be allowed to die. Federal courts have refused to intervene.
Polls showed that big majorities of Americans 70 to 82 percent opposed the intervention by Bush and Congress.
But the Schiavo case isn't Bush's only political problem.
"The public's increasingly dismal views about the economy, and about the way things are going in general, could also be factors in Bush's lower approval rating," a Gallup analysis said. "Even more dramatic is the greater pessimism about the future of the nation's economy."
Nearly 60 percent of Americans believe the economy is worsening, compared with one-third who think it's improving. About 32 percent think economic conditions are good or excellent, compared with 41 percent who felt that way at the start of the year.
Economic jitters seem directly related to rising gas prices. That ranked at the top of concerns, along with unemployment and low wages.
Only 5 percent mentioned fuel prices last month, before average retail prices surged sharply above $2 a gallon nationally.
Even at his current low point, Bush outscores every other recent president's low point since John Kennedy, who bottomed out with a 56 percent approval rating. Richard Nixon holds the modern record for the lowest approval rating 24 percent during the Watergate scandal.
You're absolutely right about Republican prospects in 2006. Historically, '06 should be a good year for the Democrats. 1958, 1966, 1974 and 1986 were all big years for the opposition party in the Congressional elections during a President's second term.Quote:
Originally Posted by Unassisted
Then again, Clinton and the Democrats did okay in the 1998 elections, though Republicans barely retained controlled of Congress, and Bush and the Republicans did extraordinarily well in the 2002 elections (normally the party in power doesn't increase its Congressional numbers and even capture control of the Senate in the first Congressional elections after a Presidential election). Historical trends are not always followed.
I always thought all last year that Bush was very, very vulnerable. But what does his victory say about the weakness of the Democratic Party? Personally, I thought Bush was gonna lose; but the Dems shot themselves in the foot with the American public.Quote:
Originally Posted by RedsBaron
count me in with the 55% group. still would vote Bush though.
South Park's right...you're forced to vote between a deush bag and a turd sandwich. :thumbdown
Exactly. I have BIG differences with several of Bush's proposals over his first term. He is definitely not the economic conservative that I had envisioned. And he is just like any other politician, regardless of party, who, when it's expediant, will "prostitute" himself for a vote.Quote:
Originally Posted by Ravenlord
But then, when I took a good, hard look at John Kerry, it is exactly as you discribe....
Quote:
South Park's right...you're forced to vote between a deush bag and a turd sandwich. :thumbdown
But I do believe, for the most part, that Bush is a man of principal and conviction. That doesn't mean that he is perfect and hasn't/won't make mistakes/miscalculations.
And now we all have to take a bite. I, however have no remorse that I voted for Bush.Quote:
South Park's right...you're forced to vote between a deush bag and a turd sandwich.
One thing I notice about our government though is how it is so quick to try to regulate everything, but you see no attempt whatsoever at regulating oil prices. We will probably never see this, and that is directed at both major parties.
We saw it in the 1970s, along with gas lines. I don't want to see it again.Quote:
Originally Posted by dman
These articles are so stupid. No, Bush hasn't dropped precipitously in the approval ratings, but this guy has hovered at or below 50% since the honeymoon phase of the Gulf War Part Deux. That's a LOOOONG stretch of mediocrity in public perception.