http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/02/27/opinion/polls/main1350874.shtml Poll: Bush Ratings At All-Time Low NEW YORK, Feb. 27, 2006 (CBS)*The latest CBS News poll finds President Bush's approval rating has fallen to an all-time low of 34 percent, while pessimism about the Iraq war has risen to a new high. Americans are also overwhelmingly opposed to the Bush-backed deal giving a Dubai-owned company operational control over six major U.S. ports. Seven in 10 Americans, including 58 percent of Republicans, say they're opposed to the agreement. CBS News senior White House correspondent Jim Axelrod reports that now it turns out the Coast Guard had concerns about the ports deal, a disclosure that is no doubt troubling to a president who assured Americans there was no security risk from the deal. The troubling results for the Bush administration come amid reminders about the devastating impact of Hurricane Katrina and negative assessments of how the government and the president have handled it for six months. In a separate poll, two out of three Americans said they do not think President Bush has responded adequately to the needs of Katrina victims. Only 32 percent approve of the way President Bush is responding to those needs, a drop of 12 points from last September’s poll, taken just two weeks after the storm made landfall. Mr. Bush's overall job rating has fallen to 34 percent, down from 42 percent last month. Fifty-nine percent disapprove of the job the president is doing. For the first time in this poll, most Americans say the president does not care much about people like themselves. Fifty-one percent now think he doesn't care, compared to 47 percent last fall. Just 30 percent approve of how Mr. Bush is handling the Iraq war, another all-time low. By two to one, the poll finds Americans think U.S. efforts to bring stability to Iraq are going badly – the worst assessment yet of progress in Iraq. Even on fighting terrorism, which has long been a strong suit for Mr. Bush, his ratings dropped lower than ever. Half of Americans say they disapprove of how he's handling the war on terror, while 43 percent approve. In a bright spot for the administration, most Americans appeared to have heard enough about Vice President Dick Cheney's hunting accident. More then three in four said it was understandable that the accident had occurred and two-thirds said the media had spent too much time covering the story. Still, the incident appears to have made the public's already negative view of Cheney a more so. Just 18 percent said they had a favorable view of the vice president, down from 23 percent in January. Americans were evenly split on whether or not Cheney's explanation of why there was a delay in reporting the accident was satisfactory.
I had a feeling the port deal was going to seriously hurt the pres, even though I actually support it . He was a victim of his own policies and I am glad it is finally nipping him in the butt.
Batman Jones likes to post things that he thinks make him look smart for supporting Dean, errr, I mean that junior senator from Massachusetts whose name escapes me at the moment.
So? Bush is not up for re-election if I am not mistaken. Ratings be damned! I would do whatever I wanted in my second term if I was in his shoes.
Supporting Kerry looks like it was the right thing in retrospect. Kerry's vote for the 87 billion before voting against it and his philosophy behind the vote would have saved taxe payers billions in wasted money. Kerry turned out to have been right both times.
Nevermind leaving the troops exposed to danger...but I guess that doesn't matter to you if we save some money.
It matters a lot because the american public may want to elect a complete opposite of GW- and that might be Hillary. Just like how GW won against Al Gore- in that he sold the public on the idea that america needed a different kind of administration, with different kind of morals.
No the troops would have actually had MORE funding under Kerry's voting strategy. Remeber the 87 billion he voted for, actually would FUNDED THE TROOPS, and tied accountability to the money. I can send you an e-mail with specifics of the bills if you still have trouble understanding them. Just let me know.
Sure - you can either send it to me at bigtexxx at gmail or you can send it to my secretary at samfisher*** at gmail.
I hate bush like the next guy, but who cares about his ratings. He didn't have that great of approval rating near the end of his first term yet he won the re-election. From a C student at Yale to a failed buisness man to the most powerful man on the planet if that isn't the american dream I don't know what is. He has succeeded beyond most people's wildest dreams.
Hillary is the opposite of GW? Maybe if your talking sex, but only the former President can vouch on that one.
Let me break it down for you in easy to digest terms: Bush: Wanted to buy $87 million worth of supplies for the troops Wanted to increase our debt to pay for it Kerry: Wanted to buy $87 million worth of supplies for the troops Wanted to levy taxes to pay for it
Dumb idea. The tax cuts are responsible for the INCREASE (yes, you read that right) in tax receipts of late. The economy reacted quite positively to the tax cuts. The last thing it needs is more taxes.
my thought basically if the cycle continues a DEmo will get in the white house in '08 If he does VERY WELL . . they will get 8 yrs we will get comfortable . .then get 12 more years of Repubs If he doesn't . . .we get 4 yrs. . then get 12 more years of Repubs Rocket River
Some of these guys think it matters... http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060228...eiyFz4D;_ylu=X3oDMTA5aHJvMDdwBHNlYwN5bmNhdA-- GOP Governors Say Bush Missteps Hurt Them By ROBERT TANNER, AP National Writer Mon Feb 27, 9:59 PM ET WASHINGTON - Republican governors are openly worrying that the Bush administration's latest stumbles — from the natural disaster of Hurricane Katrina to those of its own making on prescription drugs and ports security — are taking an election-year toll on the party back home. The GOP governors reluctantly acknowledge that the series of gaffes threatens to undermine public confidence in President Bush's ability to provide security, which has long been his greatest strength among voters. "You've got solid conservatives coming up speaking like they haven't before, it's likely that something's going on at the grass roots," said Republican Mark Sanford of South Carolina. "Whether it's temporary or not remains to be seen." The unease was clear in interviews with more than a dozen governors over the weekend, including nearly half of the Republicans attending the winter meeting of the National Governors Association. The annual conference was taking place in a capital enthralled by the political firestorm over government plans to approve takeover of operations at some terminals at six U.S. ports by a company owned by the United Arab Emirates government. Despite the discomfort, however, Republican governors gave the president a rock-star welcome as the headliner at a glitzy Monday night reception that added $9.6 million to GOP campaign coffers for fall races. "I thank you for your steadfast support," Bush told his statehouse colleagues. Democrats see opportunity, and even those in conservative states say the administration's missteps will have a ripple effect politically at home. "I do think there's a considerable degree of skepticism about what's been happening at the federal level," said Democrat Kathleen Sebelius of Kansas. "If you didn't pick it up on Katrina, you did when you tried to help your parents" get drugs through the new Medicare program. But it wasn't Bush's political opponents alone who saw weaknesses. So did his allies — listing the days of chaos in New Orleans after the hurricane, the nationwide confusion over the drug prescription program that forced many states to step in to help seniors get medications, and the ports security debacle that has drawn criticism from leading Republicans in Congress and the states. "I don't think he was well served on the port issue by the bureaucracy," said Republican Dirk Kempthorne of Idaho, who is leading a united front of governors pushing back on potential reductions to National Guard forces. "He's at the forefront on national security. When you combine this flap on the ports, and these potential cuts on the military, you need to make sure that issue doesn't slip away. It's one of his strengths." He also said the lack of communication from the administration on the Guard issue has been a problem. "There has been too much we have learned outside the loop. It's time we be inside the loop." Republican Bob Taft of Ohio offered judgment on Katrina: "This is hindsight, but it was a mistake to bury FEMA under the Department of Homeland Security." In his state, where manufacturing job losses have left much of the Midwest lagging behind the improved economies that much of the rest of the country has seen in the past two years, the economy plays a bigger role. "There's a sense it's more wrong direction than right track. That affects how they feel about the president, it affects how they feel about anybody in power. It's bound to play some role in the elections" for Congress and the governors race. Other Republican governors said that while constituents back home were paying attention, much could change for the better before elections nine months off. The Medicare program left several governors shaking their heads, though they said efforts to improve it were helping. "Probably the design of the plan could've been better," said Republican Don Carcieri of Rhode Island. Bush has called for steps to limit the confusion. Still, Carcieri was sure voters would forgive, both on the drugs and on the hurricane response. "They're more understanding of that kind of thing. They understand they're only human." The bigger problem, as he and several others saw it, is Iraq. "The biggest cumulative effect weighing on everybody is the war," Carcieri said. Even governors from parts of the country where support remains rock solid said they've seen a change as the months, and the deaths, piled up. "What was ebullient before has now — it's a more muted response. (Support for the war) still may be past the 51 percent mark, but it's a quieter level," Sanford said. Bush's public support, already low, may be dipping further amid the debate over port security and the growing violence in Iraq. Public approval of Bush's handling of the war on terror dipped from 52 percent in January to 43 percent in a CBS News poll released Monday that indicated his overall support was slipping as well. Republican Haley Barbour of Mississippi said midterm elections for second-term presidents are historically disastrous for parties in power, a fact that has Republican governors skittish about November. "Anybody with a brain in their heads knows that '06 historically could be a weak year for Republicans," said the former chairman of the Republican National Committee. "It has less to do with the weakness of the president." For Republican Mitch Daniels of Indiana, who served in the administration as budget director and left to run for governor, the stumbles are undeniable but must be seen in context. "There's a lot of lousy luck involved," he said. "I'm not saying the White House hasn't had better days, but I'm probably not nearly so hard on them as most."
