Posted on 03/15/2006 10:25:20 PM PST by jmc1969
In the aftermath of the Dubai ports deal, President Bush's approval rating has hit a new low and his image for honesty and effectiveness has been damaged. Yet the public uncharacteristically has good things to say about the role that Congress played in this high-profile controversy.
Most Americans (58%) believe Congress acted appropriately in strenuously opposing the deal, while just 24% say lawmakers made too much of the situation.
The new Pew survey underscores the public's alarm over the prospect that an Arab-owned company could have operated U.S. ports. There was broad opposition to the proposed deal from across the political spectrum, including two-to-one disapproval among conservative Republicans (56%-27%).
Bush's overall approval measure stands at 33%, the lowest rating of his presidency.
The president's ratings for handling of several specific issues, particularly terrorism, have also declined sharply. Just 42% now approve of Bush's job in handling terrorist threats, an 11-point drop since February. In January 2005, as Bush was starting his second term, 62% approved of his handling of terrorist threats.
Bush's personal image also has weakened noticeably, which is reflected in people's one-word descriptions of the president. Honesty had been the single trait most closely associated with Bush, but in the current survey "incompetent" is the descriptor used most frequently.
Congress has drawn bipartisan praise from the American public for its response to the possible transfer of U.S. port operations to a United Arab Emirates company. Nearly two-thirds of Democrats (68%), and roughly half each of independents (53%) and Republicans (49%) said Congress acted appropriately, though a third of Republicans felt too much was made of the issue.
(Excerpt) Read more at people-press.org ...
Bush is a man who totally rewards loyality, which is why he refused to allow Rummy to resign even after he twice offered to resign because of mistakes.
Good. Now he can bomb Iran without worry.
Stratospheric polls are just an Osama nab away.
I do actually. I am in that 10% plus that has cooled on Bush. I hope for the nation, that he gets it turned around. It has nothing to do with politics. Politics is a hobby. The health of the nation is a passion.
PS. If you equalize the partisan breakdown of this poll at 34% GOP, 34% DEM, and 32% IND you get a Bush job approval rating of 36.20%.
LOL I'm not in denial. I still support Bush, but you can't ignore public opinion.
Party identification comes into play with any poll, no matter who takes it. Gallup showed more people identified themselves as Republican before the 2004 election. Today, more people identify themselves as Democrats. The numbers vary according to peoples percetions. That's why any one poll is just a single snapshot. Taken all together, polls show the overall developement of political trends. Right now the JA trend for Bush, is going downwards. Free fall.
Chertoff out and Tancredo in at Homeland Security. Renounce Amnesty, move effectively to seal borders, and approval will be back > 50%.
Until we go into Pakistan with large numbers of SF and tell Mushie to suck it, we aren't going to get him I am afraid.
And, that isn't going to happen unless another terrorist attack in the US occurs.
Just hope Zarqawi is dumb enough to come back to Iraq and gets caught, because IMHO that is our best chance of Bush's numbers jumping significantly.
Amazing, I knew the presidents poll numbers were a lot higher.
Tancredo is out for Tancredo and nothing more. He demanding that Tom DeLay resign proves that.
NO IT'S NOT CHEATING!!
Because .. we are more evenly numbered than we used to be. Years ago the dems always had the lead, but after the Reagan years, and the advent of talk radio and the internet, more and more people began to register as repubs. And .. since 2000 more repubs have registered to vote than dems - which menans the parties are close to being even. This means that taking polls which are more evenly matched gives a more accurate reading.
Of course, if your agenda is that the dems should be allowed to have more votes because .. just because .. then I can see why you don't agree with an accurate poll and prefer the skewed kind which CBS produces. Good luck with that .. but remember this .. There are already liberals who believe these new skewed polls and are expecting great things to happen in 2006 - AND THEY ARE FALSE POLLS AND WILL NOT DELIVER WHAT PEOPLE ARE EXPECTING.
Time for a dose of reality. The majority of Americans DO NOT hate President Bush - it's really about 5-6% of the democrat KOOK base - and that small base is trying to make the world believe that everybody HATES BUSH! It's a lie!!
And .. if the 33% is correct for Bush - then how do you account for the 61% who approve of the NSA surveillance ..?? Surely, if 33% really disapproved of Bush .. there is no way you could ge3t 61% agreeing with the NSA program. Get real people! The media is doing a number on the numbers and people better wake up and recognize a hatchet job when they see it.
Yawn is right, LOL, and interesting to watch how these "Hate Bush" threads always draw the same "concern" and "advise" to the President.
and in an amazing bit of statistics, the MSM was rated at 146.2% approval rating!!!!!
Contrary to what most pundits think, I believe Bush's LOW polls can actually be a positive for conservative Republicans running in the mid-term congressional elections in '06. Anyone want to hear my theory? It may be the occasion for a conservative renewal!!
Well, I have no great problem with that assessment on your part. As I've said many times before, the standard measure of a poll's credibility is the degree to which the results are desirable. ;^)
You do realize that one can not hate Bush, and indeed even like him as a person, and yet worry about his competence don't you? You do realize that that is the point of view of a significant cohort of American voters at present don't you? If not, the I guess you are right, and the polls ersatz.
think of it this way:
One of the questions they want to answer in the poll is what is party do people affiliate with?
In this case, the answer was 34% Democrat, 28% Republican.
This number DOES fluctuate widely with the president's approval, so they want to measure that, too.
Forget registered voters, or historic voting patterns - this is about what party people identify with. There's no reason to adjust that number - the answer you get is the answer. More people identify as Democrats than Republicans TODAY. That's not surprising, giving the president's approval rating TODAY.
As to the NSA thing, 60% approved of the idea in general, but 55% also believed the President should have to get a warrant. But I don't think that issue is dragging the President down - it's the war and the ports deal.
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