Posted on 08/05/2005 2:34:50 AM PDT by F14 Pilot
WASHINGTON - Americans' approval of President Bush's handling of Iraq is at its lowest level yet, according to an AP-Ipsos poll that also found fewer than half now think he's honest.
A solid majority still see Bush as a strong and likable leader, though the president's confidence is seen as arrogance by a growing number.
Approval of Bush's handling of Iraq, which had been hovering in the low- to mid-40s most of the year, dipped to 38 percent. Midwesterners and young women and men with a high school education or less were most likely to abandon Bush on his handling of Iraq in the last six months.
American troops have suffered heavy casualties in Iraq in recent days. On Wednesday, 14 Marines were killed in the Euphrates River valley in the worst roadside bombing targeting Americans since the war began in March 2003.
William Anderson, a retired Republican from Fort Worth, Texas, said Bush "has the right intentions, but he's going about them the wrong way."
"Iraq is one of the issues that everybody has a problem with," Anderson said. "There are some big discussions about it around town. Everybody's got their agreements and disagreements. It seems like there's no end. Is it going to end up another Vietnam?"
Continuing worries about Iraq may do more than drag down Bush's standing with the public. They could become a major issue in the 2006 midterm congressional races, and if the war is still going in 2008, they could be a factor in the presidential race.
Bush's overall job approval was at 42 percent, with 55 percent disapproving. That's about where Bush's approval has been all summer but slightly lower than at the beginning of the year.
The portion of people who consider Bush honest has dropped slightly from January, when 53 percent described him that way while 45 percent did not. Now, people are just about evenly split on that issue — with 48 percent saying he's honest and 50 percent saying he's not.
The drop in the number of people who see Bush as honest was strongest among middle-aged Americans as well as suburban women, a key voting group in the 2004 election. A further erosion of trust could make it tougher for Bush to win support for his policies in Congress and internationally.
"The reason that trust is so important has to do with the long-standing belief that you could trust him, even if you don't always agree with him and don't understand what he's doing," said Bruce Buchanan, a political scientist at the University of Texas. "The honesty dip is partly caused by a loss of faith in his credibility on Iraq."
The president said Thursday from his ranch in Crawford, Texas, that threats from al-Qaida's No. 2, Ayman al-Zawahri, "make it clear that Iraq is a part of this war on terror, and we're at war." Bush pledged to "complete this job in Iraq."
Almost two-thirds in the poll described Bush as strong and likable.
"He's a man of character," said Cheryl Cheyney, a school bus driver from Cumming, Ga., and a Republican. "He's very honest in the things he says. I agree with his belief system, the way he believes in God and is not afraid to show it. That's very important to me."
But the portion of people who view his confidence as arrogance has increased from 49 percent in January to 56 percent now.
"This country is a monarchy," said Charles Nuutinen, a 62-year-old independent from Greenville, Wis. "He's turning this country into Saudi Arabia. He does what he wants. He doesn't care what the people want."
Six in 10 said they think the country is headed down the wrong track, despite some encouraging economic news in recent weeks.
"Iraq is just a great weight holding down perceptions of an economy that is quite robust," said Karlyn Bowman, a public opinion analyst at the American Enterprise Institute. "Whenever you have troops in harm's way, people are anxious about things in general."
The poll of 1,000 adults was conducted Aug. 1-3 by Ipsos, an international polling firm. It has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.
Both said things were not going well - ie. we were not losing but we were not winning either. A serious concern was that only 2 of the 90 trained Iraqis battalions could actually fight on behalf of the Iraqis and another issue seemed to be the lack of service personnel seemed to be another issue. Widespread infrastructure problems also were serious. Both believed we needed to stay firm and win but both believed this was going to be a long term issue - 7 years out.
Its too bad there is a lower support for this action right now. A lot of people don't see the long term gain that can come out of this.
What were the pole numbers for Clinton's handling of Haiti? Bosnia? Somalia?
Your are right on the mark! I've been saying this for some time. I am a strong supporter of the President, but my faith is beginning to wane as I see his time running out without accomplishing the important things that need to be done
You really, really need to read the link below. If you really think the above, you are getting your "news" from all the wrong places. Your viewpoint expressed here could not be more incorrect.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1439221/posts
Pray for W and Our Troops
I did not say that Iraq WAS anything like Vietnam - what I said was we should not allow the terrorists safe haven a short hop over the Syrian border.
I believe that would be a function of air interdiction.
Though what these people say may be correct...many of the so called "military experts" are Monday morning quarterbacks that were COMPLETELY wrong in the expectations for Afghanistan and the initial action in Iraq. In fact, NONE of them thought that elections could have been held as soon as they were.
My only point is that 14 of the 17 (I think it is) provinces are in pretty good shape while the terrorists and insurgents continue to cause problems and fight hard in the area where they were the strongest before the war. While the news media covers (rightfully so) that part of the war effort, they do not cover those parts of the country that are getting their local governement up and running, etc. By not showing both successes and setbacks, we get a skewed picture ...and the enemy is heartened.
Vietnam and Iraq are alike in ONE way....the media coverage
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