Posted on 07/25/2007 11:20:16 AM PDT by metalmanx2j
President Bush is a competitive guy. But this is one contest he would rather lose. With 18 months left in office, he is in the running for most unpopular president in the history of modern polling.
The latest Washington Post-ABC News survey shows that 65 percent of Americans disapprove of Bush's job performance, matching his all-time low.
In polls conducted by The Post or Gallup going back to 1938, only twice has a president exceeded that level of public animosity -- Harry S. Truman, who hit 67 percent during the Korean War, and Richard M. Nixon, who hit 66 percent four days before resigning.
The historic depth of Bush's public standing has whipsawed his White House, sapped his clout, drained his advisers, encouraged his enemies and jeopardized his legacy. Around the White House, aides make gallows-humor jokes about how they can alienate their remaining supporters -- at least those aides not heading for the door. Outside the White House, many former aides privately express anger and bitterness at their erstwhile colleagues, Bush and the fate of his presidency.
Bush has been so down for so long that some advisers maintain it no longer bothers them much. It can even, they say, be liberating. Seeking the best interpretation for the president's predicament, they argue that Bush can do what he thinks is right without regard to political cost, pointing to decisions to send more U.S. troops to Iraq and to commute the sentence of I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, Vice President Cheney's former chief of staff.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
Congress is killing themselves to get into the single digits and they re-hash this garbage?
The Presidency is NOT a popularity contest.
The disfavor for Abraham Lincoln was even greater, especiallly right after the battle of Cold Harbor.
The thing is that Congress is never as damaged by a low approval rating as is the President. A Congressman can hide in the herd.
Thanks for the info, Washington Post. What else does the DNC have to say this week?
Consistently underpolling Republicans tells all don’t it?
Let this be a lesson in “seeking the middle”.
You will never be “approved” by the libs if you’re not a flaming lib, and if you move leftward, you earn the ire of the right or conservatives.
Yes, I disapprove of certain things Bush has done, or tried to do - like the Immigration fiasco.
I have to admire his tenacity over Iraq, but I wish he’d start telling the public directly, WHY he’s doing so. Even just a “it needs to be done to prevent a future horror” would be sufficient for me.
While it’s true the presidency is not a popularity contest, a huge disapproval rating, which includes people supposedly on your side of things means you need to reconsider either how you lead, where you’re leading to, or whether you’ve completely strayed off the path.
By no means am I comparing Bush to Lincoln, there are no similarities to the men other than they are both Republicans IMHO.
What else would anyone expect from the Compost?
Yes but some on this site read and hear only what they want to
9/11 was never repeated thanks to his attentive leadership. For this he is to be commended.
However, his refusal to secure the Mexican Border, enforce U.S. immigration laws, and halt further illegal immigration has left the U.S.A. dangerously vulnerable. For this he is to be criticized.
If terrorists should succeed in attacking the U.S. through the unsecured Mexican Border, history will villify him.
If it should happen before his term of office expires, he would probably be impeached with the support of both the Republican and Democrat Parties.
Pres. Bush CONSTANTLY explains why. He just doesn't yell to grasp for ratings.
His eye is on the long term. And he will do extremely well there.
As stubborn and strange as Bush has become...Kerry would have been a disaster.....al-Qaida would have loved him!
“Even just a “it needs to be done to prevent a future horror” would be sufficient for me.”
I agree with your take except that comment. I believe he has said that nearly every time he’s opened his mouth on the subject. Loud and clear.
The history of modern polling has changed. With the invent of modern technology, the only people pollers can contact are the stay-home-by-the-land-line-telephone respondents (democrats - social dependents) or Internet pollers (spammers).
Polling has become a dinosaur. Either they invent an accurate, even polling system, or polls are just going to be looked at as left wing nonsense.
Like the print media, polling is "withering on the vine."
You are right about Lincoln's unpopularity in 1864. Some say George B. McClellan would have defeated Lincoln and won the Presidential Election of 1864 but for voter fraud within the Union Army.
So you don't believe Congress is polling in the teens or is that the one poll you believe to be accurate?
Bush and Rumsfeld / Lincoln and Stanton. Yes, I see the resemblance.
They are acting like the people who hated Truman and Nixon are different people from those who hate Bush.
Many of the people who hated Truman and most of the people who hated Nixon are still alive to hate Bush!
The headline should be: "They hated Nixon, now they hate Bush."
And as other posters have aptly pointed out, even if Bush's #s are in the tank, Congress' ratings have already sunk into the sewer.
Why don’t you have the previous two tax cuts on that chart? The one you do have labelled should be called the Bill Thomas tax cut.
Carter is still the worst president ever. And Truman is considered to be a pretty good president these days.
Other than that they were vilified by the media, I don't. I can maybe see a slight similarity in that both Stanton and Rummy were considered hard asses. But at least Rummy didn't barricade himself in his office to keep from having to leave...LOL The real funny part to that story is Stanton being the start of impeachment proceedings for Johnson because of that.
I can't tell the future, but I doubt that Bush will be held in the regard that Lincoln is a hundred or so years from now.
Bush's numbers can improve if he truly walks away from the amnesty crap. His own base will give him thumbs up if, in his last 18 months, he focuses on killing terrorists, cutting taxes, and protecting innocent life.
A conservative named to the SCOTUS would be nice, too.
In two words, the Washington comPOST can SHOVE IT.
He does comment. But Bush talks to the press. He needs to talk PAST the press, and sell the ideas and reasons why he’s doing what he’s doing directly to the people.
Instead of the ‘beltway language’, he needs to speak directly to the people, in the language they understand.
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