Posted on 02/07/2003 1:57:59 PM PST by cardinal4
Feb. 6 — A snapshot of America’s mood shows increases in President Bush’s approval ratings and in the percentage of Americans ready to support military action against Iraq, according to an NBC News poll released Thursday and taken soon after Secretary of State Colin Powell laid out the U.S. case before the United Nations.
66 percent found Secretary of State Colin Powell very or fairly convincing in his U.N. presentation.
TIM RUSSERT, NBC’s Washington bureau chief, said the bumps were “largely” due to the president’s State of the Union speech last month and to Powell’s presentation Wednesday, which many observers felt offered strong evidence for action against Iraq.
Below is a summary of the survey of 514 adults: Bush ratings: Sixty-one percent approved; 31 percent disapproved. Last month, the ratio was 54 percent to 40 percent. Bush’s high was 81 percent in November 2001.
Military action against Iraq: Sixty percent felt it should happen; 27 were against it. That compares with 56 percent and 36 percent in January. The 27 percent mark was the smallest reading since the question was asked in polls dating to last April.
Take the NBC survey
Russert noted that just before the 1991 Gulf War, polls showed that President George H.W. Bush had 75 percent support.
“This President Bush would like to have the country more united than it is now,” Russert added, “but the fact is about a quarter of the people are opposed. That’s not a bad margin. It’s not a perfect one, and there are still several weeks to go for the president to make his case if he’s going to further unify the country behind a military effort.”
A second question revealed that a growing number of Americans would strike even without U.N. support: 37 percent approved of that, up from 29 percent in January and near a 38 percent high in October 2002. Fifty-one percent said any strike should be with U.N. support, down from 63 percent in January and the lowest percentage in four surveys since October.
Grading Powell: Sixty-four percent said they watched part or all of Powell’s speech or news coverage of it. Of those, 39 percent found him “very convincing” and 27 percent “fairly convincing.” Eight percent found him “not that convincing,” and 3 percent said he was “not at all convincing.”
Russert said the 66 percent who found Powell convincing represented a “very important number” because it showed Powell as Bush’s “best messenger for war.” Preparing Americans: Forty-nine percent felt the Bush administration had “adequately” prepared the nation for war, explaining the risks. That was 9 percentage points higher than in January. Forty-six percent said the administration had not adequately prepared Americans, down from 56 percent in January.
Russert said the numbers showed that there was “more work to be done” to prepare the nation. Even if the war is quick, “what happens post-Saddam?” he asked.
Columbia tragedy: Twenty-two percent saw it as a “failure of NASA’s safety programs.” Sixty-two percent said the tragedy was “beyond what is reasonable to expect” NASA to prevent.
(Excerpt) Read more at msnbc.com ...
In terms of all these quotes about what Russert thinks, who gives a rat's ass what he thinks??The current media is so weak it spends 80% of its time interviewing the reporters. Tim Russert is a smiley smacked ass. A measely 25% oppose the war and Russert goes on about Bush having more time to convince people. You would have 25% against a cure for cancer.
Doesn't fit with my recollection either. I think the support grew after the invasion.
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