Bush Keeps Dropping
By Justin Gardner | Related entries in General Politics, Polls, The War On TerrorismA new poll shows new lows, but this first paragraph rightly nails Dems to the wall for crowing about their victories on Tuesday:
WASHINGTON – Democrats might be overstating that their gubernatorial victories Tuesday in New Jersey and Virginia are glaring signs for next year’s midterm congressional elections and beyond, but one thing is pretty clear: President Bush and the GOP seem to be mired in political quicksand.
Yes, Bush is slowly turning into political poison with moderates AND the party faithful.
The latest NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll, released Wednesday night, finds that all five of Bush’s job approval ratings â€â€? on overall job performance, the economy, foreign policy, terrorism and Iraq â€â€? are at all-time lows in the survey. In addition, the CIA leak scandal seems to be taking a toll on the administration, with nearly 80 percent believing the indictment of Vice President Cheney’s former chief of staff, Lewis “Scooterâ€Â? Libby, is a serious matter, and with Bush experiencing a 17-point drop since January in those who see him as honest and straightforward.With the midterms a year away, these numbers could spell trouble for the GOP. “These are not good times for Republicans,â€Â? says Republican pollster Bill McInturff, who conducted the survey with Democratic pollster Peter D. Hart. “This is a very unhappy electorate that’s going to be unstable, and they are terrifically unstable numbers for a Republican majority.â€Â?
So what is the White House doing to combat this? What else? Go on the offensive.
White House aides, who agreed to speak to CNN only on the condition of anonymity, said they hoped to increase what they called their “hit back” in coming days.The officials say they plan to repeatedly make the point — as they did during the 2004 campaign — that pre-war intelligence was faulty, it was not manipulated and everyone was working off the same intelligence.
They hope to arm GOP officials with more quotes by Democrats making the same pre-war claims as Republicans did about Saddam Hussein’s weapons of mass destruction.
Democrats have pointed at declassified information they say shows the White House was “deceptive” in pre-war statements.
Telegraphing the beginning of a communications effort is a tactic the Bush team has used in the past, especially when it comes to Iraq.
But will it work this time or have the American people had enough of this?
This entry was posted on Thursday, November 10th, 2005 and is filed under General Politics, Polls, The War On Terrorism. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
