Posted on 02/27/2006 5:06:03 PM PST by HitmanLV
(CBS) The latest CBS News poll finds President Bush's approval rating has fallen to an all-time low of 34 percent, while pessimism about the Iraq war has risen to a new high.
Americans are also overwhelmingly opposed to the Bush-backed deal giving a Dubai-owned company operational control over six major U.S. ports. Seven in 10 Americans, including 58 percent of Republicans, say they're opposed to the agreement.
CBS News senior White House correspondent Jim Axelrod reports that now it turns out the Coast Guard had concerns about the ports deal, a disclosure that is no doubt troubling to a president who assured Americans there was no security risk from the deal.
The troubling results for the Bush administration come amid reminders about the devastating impact of Hurricane Katrina and negative assessments of how the government and the president have handled it for six months.
In a separate poll, two out of three Americans said they do not think President Bush has responded adequately to the needs of Katrina victims. Only 32 percent approve of the way President Bush is responding to those needs, a drop of 12 points from last Septembers poll, taken just two weeks after the storm made landfall.
Mr. Bush's overall job rating has fallen to 34 percent, down from 42 percent last month. Fifty-nine percent disapprove of the job the president is doing.
For the first time in this poll, most Americans say the president does not care much about people like themselves. Fifty-one percent now think he doesn't care, compared to 47 percent last fall.
Just 30 percent approve of how Mr. Bush is handling the Iraq war, another all-time low.
By two to one, the poll finds Americans think U.S. efforts to bring stability to Iraq are going badly the worst assessment yet of progress in Iraq.
Even on fighting terrorism, which has long been a strong suit for Mr. Bush, his ratings dropped lower than ever. Half of Americans say they disapprove of how he's handling the war on terror, while 43 percent approve.
In a bright spot for the administration, most Americans appeared to have heard enough about Vice President Dick Cheney's hunting accident.
More then three in four said it was understandable that the accident had occurred and two-thirds said the media had spent too much time covering the story.
Still, the incident appears to have made the public's already negative view of Cheney a more so. Just 18 percent said they had a favorable view of the vice president, down from 23 percent in January.
Americans were evenly split on whether or not Cheney's explanation of why there was a delay in reporting the accident was satisfactory.
Part of me hopes you are right. Part of me expects this to somehow be a bigger deal in 7 days.
In particular, the decision not to insult this country's most important Arab ally.
Works for me!
Thank my fellow freeper for showing this important fact about this biased poll.
No doubt about it.
The fact that he was and is a complete tool had nothing to do with it?
You mean Pat Bu-can'twin-an?
Jimmy Carter thought that way over the Panama Canal Treaty. He blew all his political capital over a 'win' that won him absolutely nothing. You see, a political 'win' is a victory when it gives your base something it wants. If it doesn't then it was more like a Haig 'big push' than an actual victory.
Same thing over NAFTA. Clinton 'won' by turning on his own political base. The fruit of that 'victory' was losing the House and the Senate.
This ports battle will be for Bush, at best, another such fruitless and destructive 'win'.
You were wrong. Frist has come back, and most other Republicans in Congress are coming back as well.
There's lots of time to convince Republicans that the port deal is a net-positive for the War on Terror.
"Bush want the N's To DIE!!" pretty much finished any caring that myself and a large number of Americans had for the plight of displaced New Orleans residents...
Add in the INCREDIBLE fraud and corruption that Louisiana Dems are demanding as part of the "Process" of rebuilding, and you have a ready made recipe for apathy....
Apples to Oranges.
Then they tried to say the Coast Guard was lying. When? Before, which they wanted, or after which they didn't?
If anybody would know anything about low ratings, it would be CBS.
They're the experts.
Sure, Iraq held off civil war. Our 'buddy' Sadr, just back from Teheran for consultations, stepped forward and assumed the leadership of the Shiites in dealing with the Sunnis. Now, if that isn't a promising development I don't know what is !
I find you a pathetic knee jerk liar. Voted for Bush twice and I don't hate him. And I wasn't defending CBS, just pointing out the facts. That bothers you, tough.
I said 'IF' he leaves the Mid East a mess and limps out of office as a very unpopular president, historians won't be kind to him, that's all.
I call 'em like they are - the Bush polls are legit, a dem house will impeach the president, the senate will not convict him, but all this will distract the admin in 2007.
He doesn't have the stroke to do his job as president. If he tried to make a case to attack Iraq now, he wouldn't have many friends in the Capitol, and most americans wouldn't back him.
Sorry, that's how I evaluate the political climate.
I have something that will really upset you orgasm. The President can always launch an air war against Iran that will last from three to four weeks before the November elections, and thus HitmaLV the people will rally against him and your prediction of Republicans losing the Congress in 2006 will not become true.
"He better turn this around fast."
He can't turn it around until he realizes there's a problem. I think he needs some new people with fresh ideas around him. Dump Card and Rove for starters. Send Cheney packing, too. He isn't getting his message out because he doesn't have one. It's just Iraq, Iraq, Iraq. The Johnny One Note routine is becoming a bore.
He's now lost his one advantage--the perception that he is strong on homeland defense--to Hillary Clinton of all people. She and Schumer are everywhere talking tough. And what's Bush doing? Looking out for the business interests of his rich Arab pals. That's the perception that's gaining traction. Goodbye Republican chances in the upcoming elections. This guy is throwing it all away hand over fist.
Nope. It won't matter one bit. Because the "win" will come with congress' blessing, after they pull their heads out of the sand and realize what a non-issue it really is.
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