Free Republic

If you think a U.S. recession is here or imminent, you're in good company. Most Intrade bettors believe this and probably 99% of journalists and all Democratic office seekers do, too. We'll soon see. For now, I still say the 2008 U.S. recession is oversold. Why the widespread recession fear when unemployment is low, interest rates are low and the Fed is on the case? I submit there are four false reasons behind the unnecessarily grim outlook for the economy. All of them get a lot of attention. But they can be safely dismissed.

October 12, 2006 President George W. Bush addresses his remarks on the 2007 Budget and the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005, in a speech to the Business and Industry Association of New Hampshire, Wednesday, Feb. 8, 2006 in Manchester, N.H. White House photo by Paul Morse Photo Courtesy of whitehouse.gov Forty-four percent (44%) of Americans approve of the way that George W. Bush is performing his role as President. Fifty-five percent (55%) disapprove. These figures include 22% who Strongly Approve and 40% who Strongly Disapprove.

And, in a trend that could affect turnout in the November midterm elections, Bush confronts what might be called an intensity gap: The percentage of Americans who said they strongly disapproved of his performance on a wide range of issues greatly exceeded the share who strongly approved. The Times/Bloomberg poll, supervised by Times Poll Director Susan Pinkus, surveyed 1,273 adults nationwide from Saturday through Wednesday. The survey has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3 percentage points. Contributing to the fall in Bush's approval rating since January was a slight increase in the new poll in the...

Friday October 07, 2005--Forty-seven percent (47%) of American adults now approve of the way George W. Bush is performing his role as President. This is the third time in four days, the Approval Rating has been at 47%, a slight improvement over the preceding month. Fifty-two percent (52%) Disapprove. The President's performance in office earns Approval from 81% of Republicans, 18% of Democrats, and 41% of those not affiliated with either major political party. ... During 2004, reports on the President Job Approval were based upon surveys of Likely Voters. Typically, a survey of Likely Voters would report a Job...

WASHINGTON — President Bush is heading into his second term, with his job approval rising to 55 percent, a new poll shows. Bush's post-election bounce and growing public support come at a time when 72 percent of Americans say the country is deeply divided, according to the nationwide Gallup/CNN/USA Today poll. [snip] In one noteworthy finding, Americans oppose, by more than 2 to 1, a constitutional amendment to let a foreign-born U.S. citizen like California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger run for president.

<p>NEW YORK, Jan. 17 (UPI) -- Democratic voters held a 2 point edge over those who would vote for President Bush if the U.S. election were held now, a CBS/New York Times poll said.</p> <p>The poll published Saturday found that 45 percent of voters said they would vote for a still unspecified Democratic candidate and 43 percent would vote for President Bush.</p>

WASHINGTON -- A majority of Americans disapprove of President Bush's request to Congress for an additional $87 billion to fund military and reconstruction efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan over the next year, amid growing doubts about the administration's policies at home and abroad, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll. Six in 10 Americans said they do not support the Bush's proposal, which the president first announced in his nationally televised address last Sunday night. That marks the most significant public rejection of a Bush initiative on national security or terrorism since the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. In...

The latest FOX News poll, conducted January 14-15 by Opinion Dynamics Corp., shows that few Americans rate the current condition of the economy positively. Today, 13 percent think the economy is in excellent or good shape, down from 24 percent six months ago and 28 percent last January. Overwhelmingly the public says the economy is in only fair (46 percent) or poor (40 percent) shape. Today, 63 percent of the public approve and 28 disapprove of the job Bush is doing as president. While still impressive, the president's job approval rating has been on a gradual decline. Six months ago...

The recent barrage of congressional and media criticism directed at President Bush for his handling of the widening corporate financial scandal has failed to damage his popularity, according to a Washington Post-ABC News poll. The survey found that Bush's job approval rating stands at 72 percent, virtually unchanged from a month ago. An equally large proportion of people still view the president as honest and trustworthy, despite recent news accounts that he benefited as a business executive from some of the same practices he now publicly criticizes. Click here for the entire article.

POLL ANALYSES June 7, 2002 Bush Approval Drops to Post-9/11 Low But still high historically by David W. Moore GALLUP NEWS SERVICE PRINCETON, NJ -- The latest Gallup poll, conducted June 3-6, shows that 70% of Americans approve of the way George W. Bush is handling his job as president, down seven percentage points from last week and the lowest level since the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11. The rating is still high by historical standards, and is 19 points above the level measured just prior to the terrorist attacks. George W. Bush’s Job Approval Rating The new rating...

I was listening to a replay audio of Rush today citing the latest Zogby poll showing GWB at 69%. Rush was lamenting that Bush's #'s have "plummeted" from 80%. Now would some kind poll minde Freeper please tell me when did Zogby have Bush over 80%? Rush was trying to correlate these #'s to Bush's recent action as per Isreal (a bit of a stretch, if you ask me!). Especially when other polls have shown no such cataclysmic erosion of support. ABC/Wash Post had W at 79%. Zogby, if memory serves me has had Bush "plummeting" for several months now...