Posted on 09/10/2005 5:12:46 AM PDT by Brian Mosely
WASHINGTON - President Bush's job approval has dipped below 40 percent for the first time in the AP-Ipsos poll, reflecting widespread doubts about his handling of gasoline prices and the response to Hurricane Katrina.
Nearly four years after Bush's job approval soared into the 80s after the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, Bush was at 39 percent job approval in an AP-Ipsos poll taken this week. That's the lowest since the the poll was started in December 2003.
The public's view of the nation's direction has grown increasingly negative as well, with nearly two-thirds now saying the country is heading down the wrong track.
"As a nation, we are pretty well stretched," said Barry Allen, a political independent from Reed City, Mich. "I approve of some of the things the president has done, and disapprove of others. Overall, I disapprove."
Allen said he liked some of Bush's economic steps during his first term but has been dissatisfied with the president's economic moves in his second term, his Iraq policy and his handling of gasoline prices.
Allen worries Hurricane Katrina has taken the wind out of an economy that was moving in the right direction.
With gasoline racing past $3 a gallon, Bush's standing on dealing with those prices may be one of his biggest problems seven in 10 said they disapprove.
And just over half in the poll, 52 percent, said they disapprove of the president's handling of the hurricane.
For Bill Kane of Kingsland, Ga., the government's slow response to the hurricane "was terrifying to see in our own country. It made you mad, because it made you think where's our money going?"
More evidence of problems with the storm response surfaced Friday when the Federal Emergency Management Agency announced it would discontinue a 2-day-old program to issue debit cards worth to displaced families.
The administration also dumped FEMA Director Michael Brown, who had come to symbolize the stumbling early days of the hurricane response, as commander of Katrina relief efforts.
Brown once served as the judges and stewards commissioner for the International Arabian Horse Association.
"Bush puts people in jobs who don't know what they're doing," said Shirley Carignan, a retiree and a political independent from Weymouth, Mass. "I think he's picking friends for these jobs. My girlfriend raises Arabians. You know horses, so what? Horses and people are different things."
The number of people who think the country is on the wrong track grew from 59 percent last month to 65 percent this month. Tumbling consumer confidence after Hurricane Katrina may be contributing to that sense of pessimism.
The RBC CASH Index, based on polling by Ipsos, showed that consumer confidence sank in September to the lowest level since early March 2003 before the start of the Iraq war.
Economic woes and a continuing war in Iraq have been complicated by the continuing hurricane recovery crisis.
"A lot of Americans don't pay attention to their leaders on a day-to-day basis," said Robert Blendon, a public opinion analyst at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government. "They measure presidents, governors and mayors on how they handle big events like a hurricane. This event is not over because the bodies are going to be discovered day by day."
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On the Net:
Ipsos: http://www.ap-ipsosresults.com
"These people probably even think Bush is up for re-election."
I think you've nailed it. How about having a polling company gauge the public's stupidity and ask a question like this:
"As a result of what you've seen in the news about how the Bush Administration has handled the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, will you be more likely or less likely to vote for George Bush in 2008?"
THAT would be a poll I'd like to see!!!
I doubt it, but even if he is, he's not a "they". Well, maybe he's a pantheistic 'god'.
";^)
We've been here before. MSM creaming their pants over the FIRING of FEMA Brown.
OOPS!, seems he was not fired. He was removed from leading Katrina operations.
We can't be complacent, but when the rubber meets the road the American people have surprised me to no end.
RASMUSSEN is the most accurate of the pollsters currently surveying the American public and he still oversamples Democrats!
RASMUSSEN
September 7-9
48% approve
FYI 1:
Today's JA rating of 48% represents a HIGH for the president post-Katrina . . . Bottomline: the President's JA ratings are trending UP not down as the MSM would have us believe!
[Note: With both gasoline and crude oil prices trading off their post-Katrina highs we should start seeing a PERCEPTIBLE drop in gas prices at the pump . . . this will only help the President's JA ratings!]
FYI 2:
According to Rasmussen, to estimate the President's JA rating among 'likely voters' we simply add 2-3 points to his JA among 'adults' . . . this means that the President's JA approval among 'likely voters' is over 50% -- where it was on election day 2004! THE MORE THINGS CHANGE THE MORE THEY STAY THE SAME!
IT'S THE SAMPLE STUPID!
The media reporting low poll numbers for Bush are a self fulfilling prophecy. It's makes the media feel like it's done it's job. Only an election would correct a fradulent poll and expose the liars. With no election forthcoming the pollsters can have at it with the false data.
Utter stupidity has entered the building.
Gee, it took them weeks and weeks of smearing to achieve this, even with their skewed results.
"That would be great, almost worth amending the constitution for. But for one thing, a president's negative ratings can drag down the whole party. Clinton's unpopularity contributed significantly to the Republican landslide of 1994."
Which, of course, is exactly the plan in motion.............
Who cares... He got reelected, and he cannot run again. Besides I question polls. After all was it not every poll that said Bush would not get elected, or reelected?
The only reason these results came out this way is because of the controlled group of people asked. The pollsters did ask us because they knew the results they would have gotten were not what they wanted.
It's about issue ownership. The GOP owns national security. The Dems own poverty and race. When the national attention is on the first, the GOP has the advantage. When it is on the second, the Dems do.
The hurricane will be off the radar screen in about 2 weeks. The Dems will fight hard to prevent that, but if the hearings are expedited and money is modestly approved and spent we won't even be talking about this in 2-3 weeks. We'll be talking about GW Bush's USSC nominees.
We're also due for a slide in the price of oil. Chinese consumption this year is not growing. All the talk of China's consumption growth is based on last year's numbers. This year's numbers show an infrastructure distribution choke. They aren't growing consumption. When that data becomes well known, oil will head down. When gas prices follow, Bush's ratings will head up -- though we won't know because it won't be reported.
Well said.
Amen! He is not up to the job. He lets the press push him around. Arie would never have allowed that! I say fire the guy and give Dan Senor a shot at the job! Then, fire the rest of the White House Communications staff and hire some bulldog pros. Get Arie to come back and head up the whole office!
My grammer be terrible. I always use 'their' for 'he/she'.
My wife doesn't let me get away with anything.
:(
My support for Bush has dropped like a rock given his unwillingness to protect the people of New Orleans from uniformed thugs.
Tell me the "new media" is taking over. LOL.
****
The old established/liberal/socialist media is America's most ruthless, relentless, and destructive enemy.
How exactly is the President supposed to "handle" gasoline prices? Too many ignorant people in this country.
It looks like the press lies about the Katrina response and the effort to make it look like the Federal, not local and state, governments are the first responders is also working.
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