A new USA TODAY/Gallup Poll shows President Bush’s approval rating at 44%, the highest it has been in a year.
Scott Reed, a Republican strategist who ran Bob Dole’s 1996 presidential campaign, called the GOP’s apparent reversal of fortune, “the best two weeks Republicans have had since Bush was re-elected.”
Political scientist Richard Eichenberg of Tufts University said these new findings reflect, “a consistent, persistent, tenacious effort to make … the Republican Party’s ability to deal with terrorism the No. 1 issue in the campaign.” Dr. Eichenberg, who has studied presidential job ratings during wartime called it “a carbon copy” of the successful 2004 playbook.
Falling gas prices and Mr. Bush’s recent drive to highlight his administration’s efforts to fight terrorism are apparently beginning to pay off just seven weeks before this November’s contest for control of the Congress.
The poll showed that likely voters are evenly divided, 48%-48%, between Democratic and Republican candidates for Congress, but Democrats have a 51%-42% advantage among registered voters.
More than a quarter of likely voters said that Iraq is their top concern and they are evenly divided with regard to candidates who support and oppose Mr. Bush on Iraq. The question of whether the war there was a mistake was a 49%-49% draw, marking the first time, since December 2005, that a majority did not say that it was.
Six in 10 people said Mr. Bush does not have a clear plan for handling Iraq and two-thirds said the same thing about the Democrats.
Fifty-six percent said Congress is not doing enough to oversee U.S. policy there and three-quarters say that Iraq is in a civil war, despite the Bush Administration’s denial.
A lot can happen in a mere seven weeks. The Democrats still have an abundance of opportunity among these poll numbers, but whether or not they’ll be able to turn them into actual votes remains to be seen.
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whether or not they’ll be able to turn them into actual votes remains to be seen.
You are so right. Speaking from the other side, of course, but this is going to be a very interesting election.
Did you see the poll that came out about the Congressional approval rating being something like 27%? It really is a sad state of affairs when our Congress is that disliked, isn’t it? Something’s not working. It’s like they spend so much time politicking that they’ve forgotten why they’re there in the first place.
I think we can all agree that this is going to be a very interesting election, regardless of whichever side we’re on.
The old pendulum appears to be swinging again, but the Democrats are not getting the traction out of it that they should be, considering the misfortunes that have befallen Mr. Bush’s administration in the past year or so.
27%?
Incumbents Beware!
apologies for pegging you as a republican only. to an extent, i agree with you about partisanship being “the elevation of party over principle, and when that happens, we become engaged in a contest of egos, instead of ideas.” however, being closer to left than center, i’ve never come across a gop candidate i’ve wanted to vote for. then again, i’ve suffered through profound bouts of disillusionment with my own party, and not just one or two times – it seems to be a cycle!
my views never quite fit any label, though. just when i’m making friends with a self-proclaimed liberal, i’ll say something pro-business to throw them off. that’s why blogging is difficult sometimes – if you are critical of one aspect of something (i hate starbucks. well, why not, their coffee is burnt!), it is automatically assumed that you think that way (i am very pro-SME, not anti-business.)
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