Positive Ratings for the G.O.P., if Not Its Policy (Bush approval: 65%, Gore: 19%)

Three weeks after Republicans captured control of the government, Americans hold favorable views of the party and President Bush, but they are less enthusiastic about some of the policies Republicans are promoting, according to the latest New York Times/CBS News poll.

They are ambivalent about tax cuts, concerned about Republican plans for Social Security and strongly opposed to the administration's environmental policies.

At the same time, nearly half of the respondents expressed an unfavorable opinion of the Democratic Party — the highest percentage with such a view since 1996. Americans said Democrats had failed to offer a plan for the future or a reason to vote against Republicans in this latest campaign, suggesting that the election's outcome was as much a testament to what Democrats did wrong as to what Republicans did right.

In a measure of additional concern for Democrats, Al Gore, who is the best-known Democrat who might run for president in 2004, is viewed unfavorably today by a ratio of almost two to one, despite a weeklong bath of favorable publicity that accompanied his national tour promoting two new books about the American family.

Nearly two-thirds of all respondents, including just over 50 percent of Democrats, said that Mr. Gore should step aside and allow someone else to run against Mr. Bush.

The poll's finding strongly suggests that Mr. Bush's popularity — he has a 65 percent job approval rating — and heavy schedule of campaign appearances contributed to the strong Republican showing on Election Day. Among those who voted Republican, 55 percent described their vote as being cast in support of Mr. Bush; 37 percent of those who voted Democratic described their vote as being against the president.

The Times/CBS News poll was intended to assess the dynamics of the midterm Congressional elections and to compensate for the loss of data caused by the breakdown of the polling system run by the Voter News Service. This poll is not a substitute for that kind of systematic canvassing of voters as they leave voting booths. Nonetheless it offers a picture of public sentiment in the aftermath of an election that rocked the Democrats and put the Republicans in charge of Congress, while leading to assertions by some senior Republicans that the nation was undergoing a political alignment toward their party.

The findings suggest limits to the mandate that some Republicans have claimed for Mr. Bush as a result of the Republican sweep of the November elections. The poll found that the once solidly Democratic South had a higher opinion of the Republican Party than the rest of the nation, reflecting a geographical alignment that both parties have noted over the last 20 years. But it stopped short of suggesting that an ideological transformation was at hand, given respondents' views on what have emerged as touchstone Republican issues this year.

Those polled did not appear to be particularly happy about how the election turned out: just 37 percent described themselves as pleased, compared with 26 percent who said they were disappointed. By contrast, in 1994, the last time Republicans took control of Congress, providing a Republican counterpart to President Bill Clinton's White House, nearly 50 percent of those surveyed described themselves as pleased with the outcome.

As such, the findings appear to be something of a cautionary note to Republicans, particularly at a time when some party members have warned Republican Congressional leaders against moving too aggressively in pushing the party agenda.

The nationwide telephone poll of 996 adults was taken from Wednesday through Sunday. It has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.

Mr. Bush remains extremely popular. Still, on a number of issues, there was evidence of public ambivalence or, in some cases, opposition to policies that the White House has signaled it will pursue once Republicans assume control in January.

For example, 55 percent of respondents said they disapproved of the White House effort to drill for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska, compared with 39 percent who approved. Nearly two-thirds said the federal government should do more to regulate the environmental and safety practices of business.

By a ratio of two to one, Americans said they thought that protecting the environment was more important than producing energy. By a seven-to-one ratio, respondents said that Mr. Bush believed that producing energy was more important than protecting the environment.

"I don't like what he's doing to the environment, really," said James Stranz, 57, a Republican unemployed laborer from Philadelphia. "I don't think we should be ruining the environment just because big business wants more oil."

Mr. Stranz added, "I support Bush because Bush didn't back down with Afghanistan."

Mr. Bush's enthusiasm for his $1.25 trillion tax cut plan is also not entirely shared by the public. Two-thirds said they would have preferred the federal surplus be used to shore up Social Security and Medicare rather than finance a tax cut. With the surplus gone, 48 percent of those polled said they did not believe it was possible to both cut taxes and reduce the federal budget deficit; 42 percent said they believed it was possible. But the respondents were evenly divided about whether they preferred to focus on reducing the deficit or cutting taxes.

Nearly 60 percent said they believed that Mr. Bush's tax cut benefited the wealthy; just over 25 percent said it benefited the middle class. Four percent said the tax cut primarily benefited the poor. Three-quarters of respondents said that the first round of tax cuts had not made a noticeable difference in their paychecks.

Americans are also evenly divided about whether future retirees should be permitted to invest part of their Social Security taxes in private accounts, as is strongly supported by Mr. Bush and many Congressional Republicans. At the same time, more than half of the respondents said they did not expect the Social Security system to be able to pay them benefits owed by the time they retire.

Despite Mr. Bush's strong standing with the American public, there were glimmers of hope for the Democrats as they begin preparing a case against Mr. Bush for the 2004 presidential race. Respondents were evenly divided when asked if they had confidence about his ability to make the right decisions about the nation's finances.

Just over half said they were confident in Mr. Bush's ability to handle an international crisis, a relatively small increase, considering what the last two years have been like; 45 percent said the same thing when Mr. Bush took office in 2001.

The findings about Mr. Gore would seem unwelcome news to the former vice president and his advisers as he begins what he describes as a final round of deliberations about another run for the presidency. If he chooses to run, he faces what he described in an interview last week as a virtually start-from-scratch round of fund-raising calls, which could be complicated by a perception that he is a weakened candidate.

The poll was taken just as Mr. Gore was riding a wave of nationwide publicity as part of his book promotion tour. Even Mr. Gore's potential rivals predicted that the exposure would improve his standing among the American people.

So far, that appears not to be the case. Just 19 percent said they held a favorable view of the former vice president, compared with 43 percent who had an unfavorable view. The unfavorable rating is among his worst since The New York Times/CBS News Poll began asking the question about him in 1987. Men are more likely than woman to dislike Mr. Gore.

The unfavorable perception of Mr. Gore crossed party lines: about one-third of Democrats viewed him favorably, compared with about one-fifth who viewed him unfavorably. Of potentially more concern to Mr. Gore, just 17 percent of independent voters said they had a favorable opinion of him, compared with 36 percent who described their view as unfavorable.

"I know that Gore is going around now in all these public places and trying to establish an agenda, but I don't believe he can," said Phyllis Snyder, 68, a Democrat from Summit, Ark. "I just don't believe he can win. I think people are tired of Al Gore. I don't they want Al Gore. "

In another follow-up interview, Wayne Denson, 75, a Democrat and retired optician from Kansas City, Mo., said: "I voted for him to start with but now that Bush got elected, I'd rather vote for Bush than Gore. Bush has got more intelligence."

A spokesman for Mr. Gore, Jano Cabrera, said he was not concerned about the findings, saying it was still early in the race. "With two years to go, realistically speaking, none of these measurements mean much," Mr. Cabrera said. "More importantly, Gore realizes that if he runs he will be starting from scratch and will have to earn every vote."

Agree. It's your typical leftist slanted poll, but the Gore numbers are hysterical. That's probably why this is buried at the bottom of the website (and probably in tomorrow's paper).

And Gore was just telling someone the past few days that he'd make up his mind shortly as to whether he would seek the nomination or not... Maybe it was on the LKL show. They don't have a long time to get concerned about the findings.....

There's some rebarbative spin in this, but they have a hard time doing it with these numbers.

Eat your heart out, Howell Raines!

NYT Unbiased Poll:
1. Don't you HATE Bush's tax cuts for the rich
2. destruction of Social Security for helpless old people
3. And regressive environmental policies which KILL people?
...
...
I thought so! We hate them too! Thanks :)

Bet this guy sings a differnt tune when it costs $100 to fill up his pickup. It's always "big business" this and "big business" that. Business is what provides jobs for people so they can earn money. I work for "big business" and frankly am always happy to cash the check and I appreciate the job it provides me.

I loved that quote also. Gee, maybe you do need to be a little smart to get an undergrad degree from Yale and an MBA from Harvard.

New York Times/CBS News poll.

In other words, they polled the Democrat base. Who else would pay attention to these two?
It looks better for Republicans than I thought!

They are ambivalent about tax cuts, concerned about Republican plans for Social Security and strongly opposed to the administration's environmental policies.

I would bet real money that no more than three out of every ten people surveyed could coherently describe even one Republican (or DemonRat) policy on either Social Security or the environment.

You are generous. I'd put it at 2 out of ten. I'd bet there are congress critters who could not name every Senator from every state currently serving. I'll start with Maxine Waters, and follow with Jerry Nadler.

The poll is full of inconsistencies. First it says that most people don't appear to approve of private accounts for Social Security but then it says that most people don't even expect to receive their Social Security!

People think we should protect the environment rather than produce energy. Yeah, right. Just wait until gas goes to $7/gallon or your electric bill triples. People are just idiots when it comes to environmental questions. I heard one congressman say something about not drilling in ANWR because we can drill in the Caspian Sea! Sheesh...drill anywhere but here, eh?

As for the tax cuts, the NYT says most people haven't noticed a change in their paychecks. Perhaps that could because most of the tax cut hasn't even gone into effect. Sheesh...THESE PEOPLE!

Just 19 percent said they held a favorable view of the former vice president...

At least Al can still count on the "dead democrat" vote.

Yep. Typical NYT Pravda. What is truly laughable is that the leftists continue to say that the reason that they lost on Nov 5 is because they failed to get their "message" out. LOL. The fact is that they lost precisely because that DID get their message out. And people have rejected their message. Of course, for them, the truth is too horrible for them to comprehend. And so they spin away.

Typical NYT spin. The "taxes versus deficit" questions are the moral equivalent of a push-poll. No surprise the respondents are evenly divided, because it is a false dichotomy. Ask the question instead as: $5 billion less in foreign aid to egypt, welfare of illegal immigrants, corporate welfare, and funding of leftwing special interests vs. $5 billion in tax cuts for the middle class ... which would people prefer?

Also, I find the comment that 'some Republicans' dont want the GOP to push the Republican agenda humorous. Fascinating they could find the 2 or 3 Republicans who actually think this.

Energy vs. environment is another NYT/Liberal false dichotomy.
That most will choose environment shows the question was poor of people were not thinking clearly.

It's a matter of degree in these things. To destroy thousands of species for slightly cheaper energy would be foolish, but that is not the tradeoff.
Drilling in ANWR will do less to harm the environment than the average suburban subdivision. We can have nuclear energy and both improve the environment and reduce energy costs, but that requires opening people's closed minds on the subject.

The real choice is "reason and cost-based economic tradeoffs in policy", or emotionally-charged eco-extremism that disregards balance.

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