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 September’s 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.
Miers finished it, and it's a done deal.
I plan to pick up the pieces later....We lose the presidency and the Senate, but barely hang on to the House.
Frankly, from what I've seen the past few days, we don't deserve to run this country anyway. We can't even get a trade deal through that was done according to rules set up by congress.
The Republican are deserting the president in time of war, like it does not matter.
I plan to show them that it does matter. It matters a great deal.
The same people who stopped him from going into Afghanistan. The same people who kept him from going into Iraq.
Good rule of thumb. If CBS, Hillary and Dingy Harry are spouting paranoid, anti-Bush rantings bout sumthin, there is far less to the story than meets the eye.
I wouldn't jettison Rove - he has been good for a long time and distracted by his own legal problems for a while. He is a smart fella.
They do need some fresh perspectives. Dubya, as you say, has been doing the 2003 speech for about 2 years too long, and hasn't adapted effectively.
Wait and see.
who is Frist going to convince to change their minds? 10 people in Tennessee?
you folks were predicting the 45 day extension wouldn't happen last week.
there is only one way to turn this around - a proposal for increased security for ALL foreign port operators must come from the administration, and DPW must be the first company to sign onto such a proposal for the terminal operations they are acquiring. other foreign operators will be brought under this new compliance rules going forward. treat them like a defense subcontractor, limit and oversee their use of visas for their foreign employees, etc. there is nothing wrong with such a policy - its beneficial across the board. If the administration tries to use this 45 day period just for PR, lobbying, and strong arming various people - they may well succeed in ramming the deal through, but they will never change public opinion into believing the ports deal is a net-positive for national security.
I wonder what CBS News' ratings look like?
It's been time for the Republican leadership in both houses to go; they act like minority leaders.
I think we need to trust our best allies in the Arab world regarding this war on terror, and this is the UAE. If we cancel the deal, is it OK for you if the UAE, and may be Kuwait, and Qatar tell us to leave our military bases in their countries including our CIA operations there? Are you ready to lose all our allies in the Arab world? Or as usual you absolutist think that we do not anyone on our side in the Arab world to win this war.
and what are Rasmussen's numbers on this issue?
Stroke = political power, ability to get support for what he wants.
The president has the legal power as CoC to use the military, but right now he doesn't have the political power. Just the truth.
A Dem house will impeach the president. No doubt about it.
Right now, the President can not credibly make an effective and persuasive case to bomb anyone.
What are the internals on this poll: R vs. D vs. I, for instance?
LOL, exactly my fellow freeper. By the way I think HitmanLV is scared to death that the President uses his power to launch attack on Iran because he knows that this will bury the democrats and guarantee a Republican victory in this fall elections. That is why HitmanLV is keep insisting wrongly that the President cannot launch attacks on Iran because he is afraid of the reality.
I think the thing that irritates some of them to no end is that the President doesn't govern by poll. If the GOP is sweating then perhaps they should kick some Senators and Congressmen in the arse and tell them to get some spin.
I'm not fearful of anything like that. I just don't think the president can effectively make a case for military strike against Iran right now. His credibility is hurting severely.
He just doesn't have the stroke.
You are right. But Bush is stubborn. He thinks he can just bull his way out of a problem. That is why he made that empty and ridiculous veto threat. And you are right that Bush has been giving the same speech on Iraq since 2003. The time to turn public opinion around on Iraq is long past.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.