"They're saying that the drop in Bush's numbers are due to CONSERVATIVES. If these people stay home to punish the President and give us years of dem control, they will surely rot in someplace warm."
I think part of that is true, and I suspect primarily due to immigration and securing our borders as well as not controlling spending for pork. The Prez mentioned in his speech the other day that congress needs to control spending, etc to keep the economy on track and threatened a veto. If Congress pushes him on that and he does veto a bill w addt'l $$s, I think his poll #s will go up.
Also, they're not mentioning the slight RISE in the Prez's poll numbers this last week (FNC mentioned it during the week). The MSM uses their polls, showing a 33% or 36% approval).
Most don't seem to use Rasmussen, which polls more people and has Bush's rating a bit more consistent (only up or down a few points during the last year (Apr '05 48%, high in July '05 - 49%, Apr '06 - 40% (low); today: 43%). While the #s could be better, I expect them to go up a little after Tony Snow starts doing the pressers - - tomorrow (YAHOO!!). The MSM and Dims have been BASHING the admin and Prez for months, w little rebuttal and I think Tony is going to give them good rebuttal as well as getting the Prez to use the bullypulpit more.
Here's some poll info from Rasmussen (one of the only polling agencies that I think is relevant):
Presient Bush Job Approval Rating
Saturday May 06, 2006--Forty-three percent (43%) of Americans Approve of the way that George W. Bush is performing his role as President. That's up a couple of points from recent readings and it remains to be seen whether this is anything more than statistical noise. (review long-term trends).
http://www.rasmussenreports.com/Bush_Job_Approval.htm
This doesn't exactly bode well for Pubbies, but may not be as bad as it looks:
36% Democrats, 33% Republicans
May 3, 2006--During the month of April, just 32.7% of Americans identified themselves as Republicans. That's down from 34.0% in March and the weakest performance for the GOP since our monthly reports began 28 months ago in January 2004.
However, the GOP loss did not translate into gains for Democrats. Instead, the number of Americans unaffiliated with either major party increased to 30.9%, the highest total we've measured.
The number of Democrats remained steady at 36.4%. A month ago, 36.7% of Americans considered themselves Democrats.
These results come from Rasmussen Reports tracking surveys of 15,000 voters per month.
Democrats now have a net advantage of 3.7 percentage points over the GOP. That's up from 2.7 percentage points a month ago, but unchanged from a year ago. Monthly data from January 2004 to March 2006 can be reviewed here.
Only once in the past 28 months have Democrats enjoyed a bigger advantage than they do today. That came in March, 2004, when 38.3% identified themselves as Democrats and 34.3% as Republicans. The closest the Republicans have come to parity was in September 2004 when 37.3% of adults said they were Republican and 37.9% said they were Democrats.
Please keep in mind that these figures are for all adults, not Likely Voters. Republicans typically do a bit better among Likely Voters.
To see earlier comments on trends in party affiliation, click here.
http://www.rasmussenreports.com/2006/May%20Dailies/Partisan%20Trends.htm
How Relevant is President Bush to Election 2006?
May 5, 2006--When it comes to issues they consider important, 44% of Americans say they trust Democrats in Congress more than President Bush. Just 36% prefer the President.
However, when the choice is between Republicans in Congress and Democrats in Congress, the result is a toss-up--42% say Democrats and 40% Republicans.
The Republicans do better in this second match-up among both GOP voters and unaffiliateds. When the choice is between Bush and Democrats, unaffiliateds break for the Democrats 38% to 26%. When the choice is between Republicans and Democrats in Congress, unfaffiliateds are more evenly divided (34% Democrat, 30% Republican).
When given a choice between Republicans in Congress and the President, Republicans in Congress are favored by 33% and the President by 26%. Republicans themselves are divided, but lean slightly to the President by a 46% to 35% margin. The President's Job Approval Ratings have fallen among Republicans in recent months. Also, the number of people considering themselves to be Republicans dropped to a 28-month low in April.
How much this will impact voting in November remains to be seen. When considering how they will vote for Congress, just 59% of Americans say that their opinion of President Bush is somewhat or very important.
http://www.rasmussenreports.com/2006/May%20Dailies/Is%20Bush%20Relevant.htm
05/04/06 FOX News Poll: Bush Approval Rebounds Slightly, Staff Changes 'Window Dressing'
Thursday, May 04, 2006
By Dana Blanton
NEW YORK — President Bush’s job approval rating inches up to 38 percent this week, a slight increase from last month, according to the latest FOX News Poll. A 53 percent majority of Americans disapproves of the president’s job performance. Even fewer Americans approve of the job Democrats and Republicans in Congress are doing, and over half say they are either extremely or very interested in the upcoming midterm election.
The new poll finds that President Bush has regained a bit of ground this week. Two weeks ago his approval rating hit a record low of 33 percent. His current 38 percent approval is almost identical to his 2006 average, which is 39 percent approve and 52 percent disapprove.
At the beginning of the year, 80 percent of Republicans approved of the job Bush was doing; now that’s down to 66 percent. It’s a similar story among conservatives: 68 percent approved in early January and 54 percent approve now. Today 16 percent of Democrats approve of Bush, which is about the same number as approved six months ago (13 percent).
Opinion Dynamics Corporation conducted the national telephone poll of 900 registered voters for FOX News on May 2 and May 3.
"There has been a dispute in polling circles about whether or not to weight survey results by party identification," comments Opinion Dynamics Chairman John Gorman. "The FOX News poll is not weighted by party. We feel party identification moves around just like positions on issues and candidates.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,194278,00.html