Survey: Anger Toward Bush Intensifying

2/23/04 | By NANCY BENAC

[DarthVader]

WASHINGTON (AP) - In Arizona, Judy Donovan says she feels desperate for a new president. In Tennessee, Robert Wilson says he finds the president revolting. In Washington state, Maria Yurasek says she'd vote for a dog if it could beat President Bush.

A subtext to this year's presidential campaign is the intense anger that many Democrats are directing toward Bush, an attitude that has been growing in recent months.

``I've never seen anything like it,'' says Ted Jelen, a political science professor at the University of Nevada at Las Vegas. ``There are people who just really, really hate this person.''

Fully a quarter of Americans - mostly Democrats - tell pollsters they have a very unfavorable opinion of the president, more than double the number from last April. When only Democrats are polled, more than half report they feel that way.

Further, in exit polls conducted during Democratic primaries, a sizable chunk of voters have been describing themselves as not just dissatisfied with Bush but outright angry - 51 percent in Delaware, 46 percent in Arizona and New Hampshire, 44 percent in Virginia and Wisconsin.

``They really have a head of steam up against Bush,'' said Andrew Kohut, director of the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press. He said the level of political polarization surrounding Bush, the division between Republicans who favor him and Democrats who don't, exceeds even that for President Clinton in September 1998 during the impeachment battle.

A substantial number of independents who voted in the Democratic primaries expressed anger at Bush as well, exit polls found. For example, almost half of independents in the Delaware primary said they were angry, and about four in 10 in Virginia, Arizona, Iowa and New Hampshire. In Wisconsin, one in 10 of the Republicans who voted in the primaries said they were angry at Bush, and more than twice that many said they were dissatisfied.

Plenty of presidents have generated intense feelings, of course, but Democrats - and even some Republicans - think the phenomenon is outsized this year.

``I've never seen a Democratic Party more unified and more focused, and the anger helps do just that,'' said GOP pollster Frank Luntz. ``The intensity level is just so high. They're using four-letter words to describe him.''

In a recent focus group that Luntz conducted for MSNBC, technicians had to adjust the volume levels because the Bush-haters were ``so gosh-darn loud'' they were drowning out the president's supporters, who were more numerous, Luntz said. ``It was a real problem.''

Bush was asked about the anger in a recent interview on NBC and said he found it perplexing and disappointing. ``When you ask hard things of people, it can create tensions. And heck, I don't know why people do it,'' he said.

His campaign spokesman, Terry Holt, dismisses the anger as something stoked by Democratic presidential candidates and confined to core party activists. He said it also reflects Democratic frustration at Bush's success in pushing through his agenda.

John McAdams, a political scientist at Marquette University, said resentment of Bush is particularly strong among liberals who already hold three things against him: ``First, he's a conservative. Second, he's a Christian. And third, he's a Texan. When you add all of those things up, that invokes pretty much every symbol of the cultural wars.''

``It's particularly galling when somebody who mangles his syntax and doesn't pronounce words extremely well and is from Texas beats you,'' McAdams added.

Some of the anger at Bush stretches back to his 2000 election, when the president lost the popular vote but took the majority of electoral votes after the Supreme Court stopped a recount in Florida.

``It's the long view of Bush in the minds of Democrats,'' said pollster Kohut. ``He came into office in a way that they felt was unfair. They gave him the benefit of the doubt and rallied to him after the 9-11 attacks for some time, and then he disappointed them in the way he dealt with Iraq'' and by pursuing a more conservative course than they expected.

A Bush opponent can vote against the president only once in November, no matter how intense the anger. So does it matter how much voters dislike him, if these are people who would have voted against him anyway?

Political analysts say the intensity of the anti-Bush sentiment could translate into higher turnout by mobilizing the Democratic base. The possible pitfall for Democrats, however, is that strident anti-Bush rhetoric could turn off swing and independent voters who like Bush personally but might be convinced through reasoned argument that his policies are wrongheaded.

``Anger is not necessarily a productive emotion when it comes to politics,'' Luntz said. ``The anger against Bill Clinton was so fierce and over the top that it helped him in 1996 and then again during the impeachment in 1998. People got more angry at those yelling at the president than at the president himself. You could easily see the same thing happening here.''

[PSYCHO-FREEP]

I read your posts. Over a long period, you have been on an Ant-Bush campaign that rivals what Nader is claiming today in his speech. I can't help the fact that you are unwilling to see that in yourself.

Like the Democrats, the "hate" speech turns people away and you have repeatedly projected your hate for the President.

[FrankR]

Liberals, democRATs, and the media are a hateful bunch. They tend to hate anything that will not comfort and aid their agenda...which is mainly .

This hatred toward Bush is a personal hatred, and has little or nothing to do with his leadership, policies, or morals, and everything to do with the last election.

The elitists are still fuming that their chad-punching ploy did not work, and the truth came out...declaring Bush the winner. They still whine about the Supremes giving away the election.

You know, for a bunch who perpetually claim to be the smartest people in the world, lefties aren't too smart when it comes to common sense, logic, and the difference between right and wrong. The left believes the end ALWAYS justifies the means, and have no conscience to guide them through any process in an honest and ethical way.

When the left becomes "outraged", it supposed to stop the world from turning...but let a conservative get "angry" and s/he becomes a "gun-totin', rednecked bigot" in the eyes of the media and the left.

Let a leftist stand up against a law s/he doesn't like, and they are "ignoring" the law; when a conservative does it, then s/he is "breaking" the law.

Conservatives need to band together and give the left the collective finger, and tell them as a group to shut the f*ck up and sit the f*ck down.

[Bikers4Bush]

I agree completely. God forbid they face the reality of the situation. Much better to claim everyone is lying than admit there's a problem.

[MrB]

The Left is angry at Dubya because he won in 2000 and he kicked their asses again in the 2002 midterms. They hate being out of power. They will be even angrier after the election!

Riot level angry, you think?
I've seen many who would make you think that they'll turn violent if they don't get their way this time.
Spoiled brat perpetual adolescents - the core of the Left.

[Redbob]

Sounds like the shrill "anger" of the weak, the ineffectual, and those who know they're whipped.

[DarthVader]

If they turn violent if they don't get their way. I will turn violent and squash them like the insects that they are. And yes I will enjoy it.

[sarasota]

Liberal spin. Can't they come up with something new?

[Paradox]

I think hatred like this is stupid, and yes, I even thought some of the hatred of Clinton was stupid. It clouds the mind.

[Prodigal Son]

People angry at Bush? Hmmm. Well, I guess there's going to be a bunch of pissed off people after November because Bush is still going to be in the White House.

[Bikers4Bush]

That's where you're wrong. I'm not anti-Bush. I'm against some of the liberal policies he's been pushing and him being a rino on a number of things.

That doesn't mean I don't think he's done well in the WOT and that he did the right thing in Iraq.

Hasn't it dawned on any of you yet that the liberals will be reaching out an grabbing some traditonally conservative stances to counter his liberal one's?

For instance the stance that Kerry has taken on drilling for oil etc. in the U.S.

[PSYCHO-FREEP]

The Democrats are already concerned that the Dem Convention will have a riot. They are already making preparations to have security barriers in place.

The effect it would have would devastate the liberal voter stance. It won the election for Richard Nixon by a landslide when Hubert Humphrey's nomination caused riots at the Dem convention.

[Teacher317]

Anger and hate from the Party of Tolerance? No!!!

[Jonah Johansen]

Bush is just a symbol. It is conservatives and particularly conservatives with traditional religious values they hate.

[DarthVader]

It is dumb and clouds the mind. You cannot sustain hatred in illogical way because it will hurt you in the long run. You need to talk to these folks and strongly present the facts and do not yield. You can wear them down. Read post #37 I am having sucess in reaching some of these dummies.

[PSYCHO-FREEP]

Kerry is a chameleon. He is the color of the current crowd he is speaking to. The problem he has is, his past voting record in the Senate. He voted each and every time against any drilling in ANWR and the US, he has repeatedly opposed the oil industry.

[unixfox]

Spoiled brat perpetual adolescents - the core of the Left.

Yep, pretty much sums up the Deaniacs. The voting age should be raised to 25 and only those that pay taxes should be able to vote.

[cousair]

You can lay the hate at the feet of Terry McAuliffe, the DNC and the willing press at ABC,NBC,CBS,and CNN because they have been whipping it up for well over a year, every day in every way. The result is this wonderful leader, President George Bush ,probably the best in our collective lifetimes, might be beaten by a far leftwing socialist who will sell the country we love to the U.N. and powers to be...the world order raiders. We simply cannot let this happen.

[ampat]

Yes those intolerant, judgemental liberals.

[myheroesareDeadandRegistered]

"anger toward Bush intensifying"

Yeah, folks often get more angry when they realize their opponent has routed them. :)

[MrB]

conservatives with traditional religious values

They despise ANY limits on their behavior -
including having to individually absorb/pay for the consequences of those behaviors.

The world view of a 10 year old.