First George W. Bush wins more popular votes than any Presidential candidate in US History, now his approval ratings are looking good. http://www.cnn.com/2004/ALLPOLITICS/11/22/opinion.poll/index.html Monday, November 22, 2004 Posted: 4:16 PM EST (2116 GMT) Sixty percent of Americans have a positive opinion of President Bush, according to a recent poll. (CNN) -- Fifty-five percent of Americans like the way President Bush is handling his job, while the approval rating for his Iraq policies is slightly lower, according to the first full CNN-USA Today-Gallup poll following the November 2 presidential election. Forty-two percent of those polled don't believe Bush is doing a good job. Sixty percent have a positive opinion of Bush, versus 39 percent with the opposite view. Many of the poll questions targeted foreign affairs, especially the U.S. performance in Iraq. The responses showed that Bush's positive approval rating does not necessarily translate into a perception of military success, said CNN Polling Director Keating Holland. Iraqi general elections are set for January 30 to choose a national assembly, a Kurdish assembly and 18 provincial governing councils. Respondents were divided, with 51 percent saying the Iraqi elections will take place and 42 percent disagreeing. Forty-nine percent of those surveyed doubt the United States will able to keep Iraq on track toward democratic government, and 46 percent are confident it will be done. Responding to whether the United States made a mistake in sending troops to Iraq, 47 percent said yes, and 51 percent said no. Asked who was winning the war in Iraq -- the United States and its allies or insurgents -- 46 percent of respondents said neither side, and 44 percent said the United States and its supporters. The survey has a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points. U.S. and Iraqi military forces almost completely control Falluja, considered a hotbed of insurgent activity, but violence has spiked elsewhere. Sixty-one percent of those polled said they feel offensives in Falluja and elsewhere will make Iraq better. But nearly three-quarters of those polled said they are worried about Iraq, with 35 percent very worried and 39 percent fairly worried. On other foreign affairs questions: • 52 percent don't feel Iraqis will accept the election results. • A majority believe Iran (58 percent) and North Korea (60 percent) represent long-term, but not immediate, threats to the United States. Bush has identified both as part of an "Axis of Evil," citing nuclear threats. • Nearly two-thirds of respondents feel Israel and the Arab nations will never resolve their differences; 37 percent say they will. On controversial social questions, 63 percent believe openly gay men and lesbian women should be allowed to serve in the military; 32 percent don't. Forty-three percent oppose both same-sex marriages and civil unions. Regarding officials in Bush's administration, Secretary of State Colin Powell was most popular among poll respondents, with 87 percent saying they have a favorable impression of him. National security adviser Condoleezza Rice is viewed as favorable by 63 percent; Vice President Dick Cheney by 53 percent; Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, 51 percent; and Attorney General John Ashcroft, 50 percent. There was strong agreement, 72 percent, that the country is more deeply divided on issues than it has been in the past several years. Respondents also said they believe Americans are divided when it comes to values -- 65 percent say greatly divided, and 34 percent say united. The survey results were based on telephone interviews with 1,015 adults Friday through Sunday.
This thread is full of awesome content, as I thought it would be. Let me summarize the next few posts before anybody makes them - Bush won in a close elecction, but he still won, but Clinton had higher approval ratings, but Bush got more votes, but Bush blah blah blah Clinton Kerry etc. Straight up "such and such political figure is awesome/sucks" threads are profoundly useless, and frankly, not quite relevant when there is no election nigh. I'm praying to Posiedon that he use his trident of lockage on this.
The tiny core of the Democratic Party that still thinks they can 'win over' voters by USA bashing and President Bush hating is further marginalized by this approval poll. Sure is nice to see these extremists drowned out. FOUR MORE YEARS
The responses by the lefties in this thread are very telling. Very telling indeed. Distraction tactics at their finest.
the total absence of you and t_j in any thread that isn't of GOP chest-thumping material is very telling. Very telling indeed. Ostrich tactics at their finest.
Those figures also mean that some people that did not vote for Bush approve of the job he is doing. It makes me proud when people are able to put aside whether their candidate won or lost and simply back the one that did win. I doubt many people on this BBS can do so though. For them its just sarcasm till they start bashing in '07
I'm just waiting for The Neo con spin when his approval ratings go back to the crapper. And how is bashing Shrub the same thing as bashing the U.S.A.? If that's the case then, don't you right wing neo cons feel ashamed for bashing Clinton when he was in office? How could you do such a thing?
so in your view, we should just shut up and learn to like the direction this administration is going - just for the sake of supporting them? I see nothing to be proud about in being a mindless follower. I shouldn't be surprised by this attitude - our society and religion encourage us to throw away our critical thinking skills. The pressure to conform is all around us everyday. My conscience won't allow me to stop thinking for myself. I'm sorry but I am not a cheerleader and I will speak out against what I view as the wrong direction when I see it.
Very good point indeed, even thought we have traveled that road before, no GOP sycophant worth his SUV and Haliburton stock will ever address the almost comical hypocritical stance toward the presidency they now hold. CLINTON: wag the dog, BUSH: touched by an angel. They might hurl some weak, rhetoric laden sound-bites about how Clinton didn't deserve their support because he got a BJ and Bush stopped snorting coke a LOOONG time ago to find Jesus... This thread is more telling because of the blatant profiteering on the part of the Neo-Cons. The same back-slapping Dubya Devotes, *cough* Texxx & T_J *cough*, were gleefully spouting the latest GOP talking points about how WONDERFUL and ORGASMIC a jobless recovery is. Or they used their other favorite canned response: "the President doesn't have any real influence on Job creation". So, while are Neo-Con brethren might represent aristocratic values like Marie Antoinette towards "der untermenschen", they certainly do NOT get to have their cake and eat it too.
i don't know if i'm a neo-con or not...but whether you're a neo-con or an ex-con, this assertion remains true and correct, as best i can tell. a president has very little impact, if any, on real job creation, particularly within the time frame in which he is still serving as president.
