[schrocat]

Wow.

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.

...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.

Is that bad?

[Ninong]

Originally Posted by schrocat

...a bright spot for the administration, most Americans appeared to have heard enough about Vice President Dick Cheney's hunting accident.

Really?

Days Without Hunting Accident: 16

[Ninong]

Schrocat,

Nevermind. I see what my problem was. I had googled the poll myself and got the wrong date (an older poll).

[Ninong]

The pdf file of the actual poll, shows Bush's overall job approval rating is 34%. It also shows his "favorable view" rating is only 29%. http://www.cbsnews.com/htdocs/pdf/poll_bush_022706.pdf (It's an 18 page file.)

Cheney's "favorable view" rating is 18%.

Here's a comparison of Bush's January 2006 numbers vs. other Presidents at the same point in their second term. As you can see, Bush's approval rating was 42% last month vs. only 34% this month.

Approval Ratings During Second Terms

Bush, January 2006
42 percent

Clinton, January 1998
58 percent

Reagan, January 1986
65 percent

Nixon, January 1974 (Gallup Poll)
26 percent

Eisenhower, January 1958 (Gallup Poll)
58 percent

[Ninong]

The only thing that's holding Bush's job approval rating above Nixonian levels is his support among Republicans. His present overall job approval rating is 34% but that's only because he still retains approval from 72% of Republicans vs. 29% from Independents and only 9% from Democrats.

When Nixon was getting job approval ratings in the mid-20's, his approval among Republicans was only 53% vs. 25% from Independents and 13% from Democrats.

I found that on Pew Research.

[spankerbob]

Something smell like we stepped in something, oh never mind its just Bush.

[spankerbob]

How many people have to ask Before Bush will go hunting with Chaney.

[Ninong]

Bush's Overall Job Rating At All-Time Low Of 34%: CBS Poll
9:41 AM ET February 28, 2006


NEW YORK (Dow Jones)--President George W. Bush's overall job rating has tumbled to an all-time low of 34%, according to the latest CBS News poll released late Monday.

The president's rating has taken a hit from opposition to his stand on the ports agreement with a Dubai-owned company, pessimism about the war in Iraq and recent reminders of the government's mishandling of Hurricane Katrina, CBS said in a press release.

Last month, the president's rating was 42%, and his previous lowest rating of 35% came in October, one month after Hurricane Katrina and shortly after Harriet Miers withdrew her name from a Supreme Court nomination.

The latest CBS News Poll is based on telephone interviews conducted Feb. 22 through Feb. 26 with 1,018 adults throughout the United States.

The poll said even on a question of how Bush is handling the war on terrorism, traditionally his strongest suit, 50% of the respondents disapproved and only 43% approved. In January, 43% disapproved and 52% approved.

On the ports deal, where Dubai-owned Dubai Ports World (DPW.YY) was given government approval to take over the U.S. port operations of Peninsular and Oriental Steamship Co. (PO.LN), 70% of those polled said it shouldn't be allowed while just 21% said it should. The deal is currently being delayed for further review.

The poll also showed that American perceptions of the U.S. effort in Iraq are at an all-time low, with just 36% saying things are going well for the U.S. That is down from January, when 45% said things were going well.

(END) Dow Jones Newswires
02-28-06 0941ET
Copyright (c) 2006 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.

[schrocat]

I still have capital

*spit take*

By comparison, I believe at this stage of the game Nixon was wandering around the WH in floppy bunny slippers talking into a bottle of Old Grandad.

[schrocat]

Bush approval rating nearing Nixon's levels
By WILLIAM DOUGLAS
Knight Ridder Tribune News


WASHINGTON - President Bush's job-approval rating fell to an all-time low — 34 percent — in a poll published Tuesday. That puts him not far above Richard Nixon's Watergate-era nadir and raises questions about how effectively he can govern in his remaining years in office.
The poll, conducted by CBS News between last Wednesday and Saturday, found that 59 percent of U.S. adults disapproved of Bush's job performance. His 34 percent approval rating was the lowest since he took office in 2001, eight points lower than in January.
The poll's margin of error was plus or minus 3 percentage points.
A toxic mix of messes has dragged Bush down, including his handling of Hurricane Katrina, the Harriet Miers Supreme Court nomination, violence in Iraq, and the port deal with a state-owned Arab company.
Bush's approval rating is far below those of three of the last four two-term presidents in February of their sixth year:
• Dwight Eisenhower (64 percent);
• Ronald Reagan (63.50 percent); and
• Bill Clinton (57 percent).
Only Nixon, at 27.5 percent in February 1974 — six months before he resigned — was less popular than Bush is now.




Sir. The helicopter is here.

[Steven Pro]

To the best of my knowledge, neither BUsh nor Cheney plan to run for public office ever again, so public opinion polls mean very little. They can have an effect on "political capital" under certain circumstances, but this one is not one of those instances. This poll would have an effect on the 2006 midterm elections if it was one of likely voters, but it is not. It is not even a poll of registered voters. It is a poll of every Joe Schmoe off the street, making it fairly useless is determining the outcome of the upcoming elections.

Secondly, of the respondents, 41% identified themselves as Democrat while only 27% said they were Republican. So, the poll results are skewed.

[schrocat]

Too bad one of the questions wasn't "have you recently switched parties in which you identify yourself with".

I guess we'll just have to wait and see if these numbers have any weight in November.

The GOP doesn't share your optimism at all.

[Ninong]

Originally Posted by Steven Pro

To the best of my knowledge, neither BUsh nor Cheney plan to run for public office ever again, so public opinion polls mean very little.

Just because neither Bush nor Cheney will be running for national political office again doesn't mean public opinion polls mean very little. In the automotive business, we would say that they're a good measurement of CSI (customer satisfaction index). The customers are not completely satisfied right now.

They can have an effect on "political capital" under certain circumstances, but this one is not one of those instances. This poll would have an effect on the 2006 midterm elections if it was one of likely voters, but it is not. It is not even a poll of registered voters. It is a poll of every Joe Schmoe off the street, making it fairly useless is determining the outcome of the upcoming elections.

As far as predicting the outcome of the upcoming elections, I doubt it makes much difference whether they poll everybody or just registered voters. People have a tendency to express dissatifaction with the way things are going nationally and yet still continue to support their own incumbent members of the House and Senate in the next election, which is one of the reasons they say all politics is local.

Right now there is widespread dissatifaction with both major political parties but a little more dissatisfaction with Republicans. For this to translate into a switch in control of either the House or the Senate would require a much greater gap between the public's perception of which Party is better able to move the country in the direction they prefer. I think the gap right now is around 8% in favor of the Democrats. I don't think that will do it, especially since people have a tendency to re-elect their own incumbent congressmen in spite of what they think about the national political parties. However, if the gap widens to as much as 15% in favor of Democrats, both the House and the Senate could change hands in November. As of right now, I don't see that happening. I think it is much more likely that the Democrats will gain two or three Senate seats and maybe 8 or 10 House seats -- not enough for a switch in control. If the present trend continues unabated, there is a chance that the gap could widen to the point where a switch in power is more likely.

Secondly, of the respondents, 41% identified themselves as Democrat while only 27% said they were Republican. So, the poll results are skewed.

Yes and no. It is true that the Democrats do not presently have that great an advantage in registrations, having dropped several percentage points over the past decade, but people have a tendency to disclaim affiliation with the Party in trouble. For example, in polls conducted shortly after Watergate, only 20% of respondents identified themselves as Republicans vs. 50% who claimed to be Democrats. There is no way that the Democrats outnumbered the Republicans by 2-1/2 to 1 but that's the way the answers came back.

It could be that the Democrats who voted for Bush in 2004, are now calling themselves Democrats again when asked about their political party affiliation by a polltaker? It's hard to say if the numbers are skewed or not. I guess the best way to approach it is to compare the various polls and see if they produce similar results. The spread in job approval numbers between the half dozen or so major polls is usually in the range of 4 to 5 percentage points from lowest to highest. Some people like to take the average of all the major polls and keep track of that trend.

It will be interesting to see how CBS's poll numbers compare to such GOP-leaning polls as Fox or Gallup.

[schrocat]

Originally Posted by Ninong

It will be interesting to see how CBS's poll numbers compare to such GOP-leaning polls as Fox or Gallup.

Feb 6th Gallup was 39%.

One would assume it would be lower now...
Maybe as much as *gasp* 5% ?

[schrocat]

Ninong,
Lets hope Gallup got those numbers before todays video release of the pre Katrina briefings.

Joe Schmo on the street is going to be most upset with this new info.
Seeing how it contradicts so much of what Bush said...

[Ninong]

Originally Posted by schrocat

Ninong,
Lets hope Gallup got those numbers before todays video release of the pre Katrina briefings.

Joe Schmo on the street is going to be most upset with this new info.
Seeing how it contradicts so much of what Bush said...

Here's a link to the full story and the video.

It's not really new news down here in Louisiana because all of this has come out in previous testimony, it's just the first time the public gets to see a copy of that final video conference the day before Katrina hit.

[schrocat]

Most apologist would dismiss Brownies and others testimony as mere CYA smokescreen.

This video says otherwise IMO.

from msnbc:

Live Vote

Does the videotape of the briefing change your opinion on who, if anyone, was at fault for the federal response to Hurricane Katrina? * 16573 responses

Yes. President Bush appears disengaged while ex-FEMA boss Michael Brown is clearly concerned. 82%


No. The president was relying on assessments from his staff and has acknowledged missteps occurred "at all levels of government." 12%


Unsure. I'd like to see more of the videotape. 6%

[Ninong]

Bush Free Fall Continues in New Polls




Following up on a dismal CBS News survey earlier this week, two new polls by Fox News and CNN/USA Today/Gallup bring more bad news for President Bush. From the Fox News poll:

- 39 percent of Americans approve of the job Bush is doing, only the second time Bush has fallen below 40 percent in Fox polling
- 81 percent believe Iraq is likely to end up in a civil war.
- 69 percent oppose allowing Dubai Ports World to manage U.S. ports.

From CNN/USA Today/Gallup:

- 38 percent approve of the job Bush is doing, a rating “mired near its record low” of 37 percent.
- 47 percent approve how he is handling terrorism, “down 7 points since early February and a record low.”
- 64 percent disapprove of Bush’s handling of Iraq, a record high.
- 52 percent do not find Bush “honest and trustworthy,” tying November’s worst-ever mark.

UPDATE: Quinnipac:

Only 36 percent of voters approve of the job President Bush is doing, while 58 percent disapprove, his worst approval rating in a Quinnipiac University national poll and down 9 points from his 45 - 48 percent approval rating one year ago.

From Think Progress.

Days Without Hunting Accident: 19

[schrocat]

I was soooo wrong.

He fell 1% instead of 5%.

[Ninong]

Only 18% of the American people have a favorable opinion of Dick Cheney, but what exactly does that mean?

To put things in perspective:

25% have a favorable opinion of Michael Jackson!

29% have a favorable opinion of O. J. Simpson!

Wow! I guess 18% is really, REALLY BAD!!!



P.S. -- On the other hand, only 15% have a favorable opinion of Paris Hilton.



Days Without Hunting Accident: 24