Posted on 04/03/2005 3:14:47 PM PDT by areafiftyone
I agree. One thing I like abou Bush is that he does not waffle.
While 51% approval is a good number from Rasmussen, we still need to put this number in context:
1.) Rasmussen is now polling 'adults' rather than 'likely voters'. [Note: Rasmussen indicates that polling 'likely voters' (as he did all of last year) would elevate the President's approval rating by SEVERAL points!]
2.) Rasmussen does NOT publish the demographic 'breakdown' of his polling sample . . . I can only assume that he joins other pollsters (e.g., Gallup, CBSNews, Pew, Newsweek) in consistently oversampling Democrats/Democrat-leaning Independents.
3.) Relative to the 2004 election, Rasmussen's actual POLL failed to predict the President's MAJORITY (51%) victory. Supposedly, Rasmussen 'projected' such a victory; however, his actual polling results consistently UNDERESTIMATED the President's strength.
4.) THE ONLY POLL THAT COUNTS WAS CONDUCTED ON NOVEMBER 2, 2004 . . . The President has been re-elected and will serve four more years regardless of constant sniping (and biased polling) from the left and right!!
5.) According to Gallup, President Reagan's average job approval rating was 53% for his 8 years in office [NOTE: During almost 6 of his 8 years, President Reagan's job approval rating hovered below the 50% mark . . . Does anyone remember this? . . . Does anyone care?!]
6.) The Battleground Poll is the only poll that differentiates between the President's job approval rating and his PERSONAL approval rating . . . Its most recent poll, released March 26, 2005, put the President's job approval rating at 53% approve/44% disapprove and his PERSONAL APPROVAL RATING at 66% approve/25% disapprove.
http://www.lakesnellperry.com/polls/BG32405.htm
[NOTE: "The net result of the 'job' and 'personal' approval measurements is that 50% of the public approves of GWB on both measurements and only 24% of voters disapprove of the President on both -- over a 2:1 ratio. This is in stark contrast to the second term of the Clinton presidency where Bill Clinton regularly faced a 'consistent disapproval' rating that ran 50% higher than his 'consistent approval' rating!" Battleground Poll 2006]
The President plans to use 2005 to tackle some tough issues, e.g., social security; he knows that by addressing these issues he will most certainly drive down his job approval ratings . . . he doesn't care . . . The President will become a 'lame duck' soon enough . . . until then, he plans to play 'long ball'!
Maybe the MSM think they can influence W by this bogus crap. I think NOT.
"Fifty-one percent (51%) of American adults approve of the way George W. Bush is performing his role as President...Was this already settled after November 2nd? Why is this news???
51% approval rating is not bad, considering only 75% know who is president.
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