Posted on 06/17/2004 9:38:20 PM PDT by kattracks
President Bush got a boost from the public's recent focus on the funeral of Ronald Reagan, and support for his Iraq policy spiked over the last month as the United States prepared to hand power over to Iraqis, according to a poll released Thursday. What's not clear, however, is the effect the Sept. 11 commission's Wednesday statement that it has found no credible evidence Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein and al-Qaida had a collaborative relationship will have on the polls. The commission's findings raised fresh questions about the Bush administration's decision to invade Iraq.Andrew Kohut, director of the Pew Research Center, said the poll found evidence that Bush got a benefit from the attention paid to the Reagan funeral and the moves toward a handover of power in Iraq. Interviews for the poll started before Reagan's death and continued during the coverage of the extended period of memorials and funerals.
"Bush got a little lift last week from the Reagan commemoration," Kohut said. "His (approval) ratings were 44 percent in interviewing done before ... and went up to 50 percent after Reagan's death."
Bush's job approval rating in the poll was 48 percent, up slightly from 44 percent in May, according to the poll by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press. The poll of 1,806 adults was taken from June 3-13 and has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 2.5 percentage points, slightly higher for the sample of registered voters.
Bush had a slight lead over Kerry in a three-way matchup, with the president at 46 percent, Kerry at 42 percent and independent Ralph Nader at 6 percent. Bush and Kerry were tied in a two-way race.
Almost six in 10, 57 percent, said the situation in Iraq is going well, up from 46 percent a month earlier. Almost that many, 55 percent, said military action in Iraq was the right decision, up slightly from 51 percent a month earlier.
Optimism that U.S. troops will come home in the next two years was up, with 50 percent now saying that compared to 35 percent in April. While the violence in Iraq has continued, much of the recent news coverage has focused on the gradual handover of power to Iraqis.
We'll know more by October who's going to win the election. Right now, its President Bush's to lose.
Ya know, these polls in June mean nothing. The war in Iraq and THE DEBATES are going to determine who is the next Prez.
The only thing they are good for is theatre for the superficial, shallow, last minute voters who don't know squat about public policy or even the make-up of our government. To them, it's just some popularity contest and beauty pageant for a public swooning over celebrity and entertainment.
And Bill Clinton on every network, arrogantly bragging about his "badge of honor" impeachment, can only help Bush's numbers increase.
The plus 4% is actually an increase of 9% over the previous 44%.
TDIDS !!!!!!!
Kerry will do something stupid by showing up. He is worse in public than algore.
The debates will be critical for one simple reason -- by mid October, things will be going pretty much the way they are now, meaning Iraq is improving and two million jobs have been added, or they will be worse. If things are going smoothly, Kerry has nothing to talk about and Bush does. Or vice-versa. Absent a national disaster, Kerry loses big.
I'm sorry... I just can't forget Gerald R. Ford's debate blunder that gave the 1976 election to Jimmy Carter! I'm PRAYING that George W. Bush doesn't find some brain fart way of snatching defeat from the jaws of victory!!!
He handled Algore creeping up on him with aplomb and humor, and I loved it.
Don't worry about GW. He handles himself well. I still can't figure how the press has so miscatergorized him.
Pray away, but people have seen Bush in action, and they will judge him by his results. Everyone knows he has problems with certain words. This was a source of concern before he had a record. His verbal fluency problem will not be a factor in the debate.
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