Ok, we’ve had low-points in the CBS poll, AP poll, the CNN/Gallup Poll, the Pew Poll and now the NBC/WSJ poll hitting low point for Bush:
According to the poll, only 37 percent approve of Bush’s job performance — his lowest mark ever in the survey. That’s a two-point drop since the last NBC/Journal poll, and a one-point decline from his previous low of 38 percent last November. In addition, just 26 percent believe the nation is headed in the right direction, a tie from the previous Bush administration low, which also occurred in November.
As I noted earlier, this is not the results of bad press, but rather this administration has some very serious problems and there is a prevailing concern about its competence:
Consider the following list of policy items: Iraq, Katrina, Guantanamo, Abu Ghraib, NSA wiretaps, Dubai Ports World, federal spending, the prescription drug benefit, or social security reform and tell me precisely where one would truly approves of the job that the president has done in the given policy area. Certainly there are divergent views on any single one of those items, but none of them has been a smashing success, and several could be deemed utter failures without much debate.
I certainly agree that the Bush Administration has produced many utter failures, but I’m still not willing to put much stock in the poll numbers. The question remains whether or not the actual voters in states with Republican congressmen want a Democrat controlled Congress. The overall opinion is really irrelevent in this situation.
Also, people will often say one thing to a polster and do another when they enter the voting booth. People can find it very difficult to break with a pattern of behavior even if they know on a intellectual level that it is in their best interest.
I’d love to see the Republicans lose control of Congress, but I’m certainly not holding my breath expecting it to happen.
I had read the MSN article too and was thinkig about blogging on it myself, I probably should have just done that.
Comment by Jan — Thursday, March 16, 2024 @ 9:12 am
I trust these numbers–but would highly caution against using them as a proxy for congressional voting,.
Comment by Dr. Steven Taylor — Thursday, March 16, 2024 @ 9:19 am
Plus it is only March. The key thing to watch is the slippage among Republicans. There is a critical mass at some point, where Republicans are so unhappy with the whole lot of em that they just stay home. That hasn’t happened yet, but it could. (That, and redistricting, is what killed the Democrats in 94.)
Comment by SoloD — Thursday, March 16, 2024 @ 10:10 am
[…] the Bush administration, despite a deep well of goodwill and high expectations post-9/11, is inspiring doubts from the population. Specifically in the domestic side of the war on terror, the LAT note […]
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