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A New Week, A New Low

May 8, 2006

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President Bush’s approval rating has slumped to 31% in a new USA TODAY/Gallup Poll, the lowest of his presidency and a warning sign for Republicans in the November elections.

The survey of 1,013 adults, taken Friday through Sunday, shows Bush’s standing down by 3 percentage points in a single week. His disapproval rating also reached a record: 65%. The margin of error is +/- 3 percentage points.

How low can he go?

“You hear people say he has a hard core that will never desert him, and that has been the case for most of the administration,” says Charles Franklin, a political scientist at the University of Wisconsin who studies presidential approval ratings. “But for the last few months, we started to see that hard core seriously erode in support.”

According to Howard Fineman on Countdown, the White House thinks the Hayden confirmation hearings will help them. The NSA spy program will be front and center, and the Bushies think that’s a winner for them. More dissociative thinking?

Spotlight

10 Comments

Swami • May 8, 2006 @9:56 pm

It’s not disassociative thinking. It’s more of a reactionary strategy of putting on a good face in a situation that’s over your head…likeTom DeLay’s eagerness to get into court… Remember the Ban roll-on commerical?..”Never let them see you sweat”!
I agree with Glenn Greenwald’s assesment that even if Specter’s probing for answers about the domestic spying goes nowhere, the exposure to the issue will result in a negative for Bush. I think Bush’s days of bring it onare over.
Frank Wilhoit • May 8, 2006 @9:57 pm

To within statistical noise, everyone who voted Republican in 2004 will vote Republican again in 2006. They can do no other. Mr. Bush long ago lost everyone to his left; the people he is losing now are to his right.
Swami • May 8, 2006 @9:58 pm

How low can he go? ….Chubby Checker!
A. Citizen • May 9, 2006 @4:35 am

Stop the General Hayden nomination dead in it’s tracks blogswarm!
Lynne • May 9, 2006 @7:03 am

It would be nice to think that the average person cares about what is going on in this country right now.

It’s the gas prices. That’s going to be meaningful to even the most stubborn Bush supporter.

What if alternative fuels get a strong start? Iraq, we’re outta there? Too bad it can’t happen overnight.
grannyinsanity • May 9, 2006 @7:08 am

It’s hard to believe there are really 31% who can find anything about his management even tolerable.
Donna • May 9, 2006 @10:35 am

You called it Swami….. remember 2002 and the media blitz about the dangers of WMD. Americans were subjected to a steady stream of headlined warmongering points. I see the Hayden fight as a similar ‘ad campaign’ ….Americans are to be subjected to a steady stream of headlined ‘national security’ points.
Forget the headlines……look behind the scenes…..12 more Americans died since yesterday in Iraq….Republicans just dropped from their ‘further cutting taxes bill’ any relief for those middle income folks caught by the alternative minimum tax [originally designed for the wealthy who claimed so many exemptions] in order to provide even more tax breaks for the very wealthy…..Republicans just passed an ethics bill that leaves the lobbying sleaze potential essentially intact…..Bush snuck a change of status for Social Security into this year’s budget which no one is mentioning…..

At the least, Rove wants headlines about ‘national security’….I think he really hopes to distract the whole country from looking at what the Republicans are doing elsewhere.
Britwit • May 9, 2006 @12:05 pm

Did anyone notice that General Hayden looks like he could be related to Karl Rove?
Erin • May 9, 2006 @12:33 pm

The evening news, which typically tends to give the administration the unearned benefit of the doubt, has taken to referring to the NSA spying program as “spying on American citizens,” so at this point it’s all rhetoric. If Hayden’s critics make enough noise, I don’t think Bush will gain much at all. I think it must be dissociative thinking. Bush doesn’t know how to pick the winner anymore.

I agree with Lynne, though, it’s all about gas prices. I would not be surprised if there was a strong correllation between gas prices and Bush’s approval ratings.
steve talbert • May 11, 2006 @2:57 pm

Did you read Froomkin’s column 5/11/06? I get the impression Bush thinks that the poll numbers reflect OUR OPINION ABOUT OURSELVES and not him.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/linkset/2005/04/11/LI2005041100879.html