Bush Polls Up
By Justin Gardner | Related entries in General Politics, PollsLooks like his recent speech about the Iraq war, coupled with the Dems calls for leaving Iraq, have pushed his numbers up slightly.
WASHINGTON - President Bush’s improved standing with whites, men, Catholics and other core supporters has been a key factor in pushing his job approval rating up to 42 percent. That’s the highest level since summer.Shifting into campaign mode to reverse his slide in public opinion polls, Bush has boosted his support among key constituency groups � particularly in the Northeast and West � on his handling of Iraq and the economy, an AP-Ipsos poll found.
“Now it’s not a one-sided debate,â€Â? said Republican pollster Ed Goeas, citing Bush’s recent speeches on the health of the economy and the high stakes in Iraq. “You have a message getting out there in a much more positive way.”
But let’s get real here. A lot of people in the blogosphere are trumpeting this “shift” as a clear sign Bush is back on track. Well, he’s not. He simply made a speech about Iraq which attempted to clarify the message. For some people, they simply needed to be reminded that Bush is paying attention. That’s worth a boost of 6% in most any electorate. And yet 57% still disapprove of the job he’s doing. That’s not good and it’s going to take a lot more than a few speeches here and there to bring that number back to somewhere more respectable.
Democracy is a self-correcting system and we’ll see if Bush’s numbers keep trending upwards. Something tells me they will, but they could be hampered by a Rove indictment or a weak response to the mounting threat of Iranian nuclear proliferation. And given that Bush has suggested he’s going to spend a lot of his time after 2006 trying to improve our economy, I’m wondering if he’s taking his eye off the terrorism ball.
Thoughts?
This entry was posted on Saturday, December 10th, 2005 and is filed under General Politics, Polls. 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.
December 10th, 2005 at 9:32 pm
Considering the multiple debacles of bin Laden/Iraq/Katrina and throw in Libby/DeLay/Abramoff/Cunningham/Frist, it’s hard not to get a bounce as most of the nation loses focus on Iraq and Katrina while they rush around preparing for “the holidays”.
(There, I said it!! The Hol-i-days. I’m an edgy son-of-a-bitch bent on destroying Christmas, sue me Bill O’Reilly!!)
The real question is, is there any way he can get back above 50% approval? Perhaps if we actually got bin Laden, but short of that?
December 11th, 2005 at 8:59 pm
The standard “reply” that I see is “Only three more years”.
It is never “One year too long already”.
Live with it…?
December 22nd, 2005 at 1:56 am
Why is the fucking congress so fucking worry about pointing fingers at the president? Their stiffed asses were willing to lay all the
responsability of National Security on the president’s back. Now they are having second thoughts. We are now safer because of the patriot act and all that the president has done for our country. I am sure the
congress aproval ratings will go up if they would spend their energy
trying to pass laws that provide our American children with all the tools
they need to get a decent education, pass laws that provide medical care for the elder and all low income and middle class families.
If only they would worry about making a real impact in our dinner tables and our paychecks and our well being. I hear them fucking congress people blabbing their jaws away and I think of how freaking
misused my tax dollars are.