Poll: Bush approval dips below 40 percent

[DavidMn]

the one guy among the republicans that makes much of any sense to me is John McCain. One thing I hate about Bush and his handlers(See Svengali Rove) is how they tried to belittle his service record in Vietnam in the 2000 campaign. That was really tasteless in my opinion. I mean Bush never served his country in Battle. Clinton didnt either, just so no one thinks that I'm picking on one guy. I just have alot of respect for someone like John McCain or John Kerry that actually was in the field of battle. I dont approve of war, but I love our soldiers. Hope that makes some sense.

[strandinthewind]

Originally Posted by irishgrl

what's your secret? I wish they'd call ME!

Beats me. Interstingly, you really cannot give comments as that would bias the results - though it was tempting to say So and So is a so and so and get the poller to agrew with you -

You are just supposed to answer the questions - some of which were yes/no and some were "on a scale of 1 to five" . . . .

[gldstwmn]

Originally Posted by irishgrl

what's your secret? I wish they'd call ME!

I have an unlisted phone number but I've voted in every election for quite a while now. Maybe they are getting my info from voter registration?

[gldstwmn]

Originally Posted by DavidMn

the one guy among the republicans that makes much of any sense to me is John McCain. One thing I hate about Bush and his handlers(See Svengali Rove) is how they tried to belittle his service record in Vietnam in the 2000 campaign. That was really tasteless in my opinion.

They also push polled people into thinking he'd fathered an illegitimate black child.
Mc Cain was on quite a roll with his "Straight Talk Express". They had to find a way to stop him, and they did.

[irishgrl]

I hadnt heard that one...I thought that was somebody else, Strom Thurman or somebody?

Ive voted in every election since I was 18. Ive never been called. go figure

[BombaySapphire3]

Originally Posted by gldstwmn

The last third, IMO is the "take his word as gospel" base.
Should the number get down to 33%, you will most certainly see some ass saving manuevers on the part of the GOP. With those kind of numbers, they will certainly fair poorly in the 2006 mid terms.

I don't see it dropping too much more without cutting into that core of born again,gun toters that would have to see him strangle a small child and bludgeon an elderly woman on national tv before they'd abandon the SS. Bush and even then I wonder about some of them.

[strandinthewind]

Originally Posted by BombaySapphire3

I don't see it dropping too much more without cutting into that core of born again,gun toters that what have to see him strangle a small child and bludgeon an elderly woman on national tv before they'd abandon the SS. Bush and even then I wonder about some of them.

I think people vote for W because there was no more favorable alternative. Essentially, Kerry provided no concrete view on anything and allowed W to portray him as something he was not, which was this flaming liberal. In the end and IMO, people vote for the least offensive candidate, which in the last election was pretty much 50/50

[irishgrl]

Originally Posted by strandinthewind

I think people vote for W because there was no more favorable alternative. Essentially, Kerry provided no concrete view on anything and allowed W to portray him as something he was not, which was this flaming liberal. In the end and IMO, people vote for the least offensive candidate, which in the last election was pretty much 50/50

funny...in MY mind, Bushwad is the MOST offensive candidate. but again, it was rigged. Kerry didnt get all the votes he should have gotten.

[strandinthewind]

Originally Posted by irishgrl

funny...in MY mind, Bushwad is the MOST offensive candidate. but again, it was rigged. Kerry didnt get all the votes he should have gotten.

Kerry was very ineffective at going on the assault on W. Instead, he allowed himself to be torn to shreds by Bush operatives with little effective response, which I think is why he lost.

[BombaySapphire3]

Originally Posted by strandinthewind

I think people vote for W because there was no more favorable alternative. Essentially, Kerry provided no concrete view on anything and allowed W to portray him as something he was not, which was this flaming liberal. In the end and IMO, people vote for the least offensive candidate, which in the last election was pretty much 50/50

I agree Kerry was not whom I would have chosen to run against Smirky He just kind of filled the void after Dean's campaign crashed.I liked Dennis Kucinich of the Democratic candidates he made no bones about where he was coming from idealogically.But please even even If i'd never heard of Kerry or Smirky before .Curious George's awful debate performance would have cinched it for me.

[Brwn_eyes0511]

Originally Posted by strandinthewind

Kerry was very ineffective at going on the assault on W. Instead, he allowed himself to be torn to shreds by Bush operatives with little effective response, which I think is why he lost.

And he made an awful mistake in having Edwards as his running mate, and I hate to say that considering I am from NC myself...but it is true. The Vice-Presidential debate was pathetic..."Vote for Kerry/Edwards because Edwards' old man use to learn math off the TV."

[strandinthewind]

Originally Posted by Brwn_eyes0511

And he made an awful mistake in having Edwards as his running mate, and I hate to say that considering I am from NC myself...but it is true. The Vice-Presidential debate was pathetic..."Vote for Kerry/Edwards because Edwards' old man use to learn math off the TV."

I disagree with you there. I think Edwards made the rather stone faced Kerry look human. Also, the polls indicate Edwards was very favorably received. In fact, I have always thought the golden Edwards could have beat W on his own. But, we will never know.

[strandinthewind]

Poll: Bush approval at 39 percent

WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Bush's job approval has dipped below 40 percent for the first time in the AP-Ipsos poll, reflecting widespread doubts about his handling of gasoline prices and the response to Hurricane Katrina.

Nearly four years after Bush's job approval soared into the 80s after the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, Bush was at 39 percent job approval in an AP-Ipsos poll taken this week. That's the lowest since the the poll was started in December 2003.

The public's view of the nation's direction has grown increasingly negative as well, with nearly two-thirds now saying the country is heading down the wrong track.

"As a nation, we are pretty well stretched," said Barry Allen, a political independent from Reed City, Michigan. "I approve of some of the things the president has done and disapprove of others. Overall, I disapprove."

Allen said he liked some of Bush's economic steps during his first term but has been dissatisfied with the president's economic moves in his second term, his Iraq policy and his handling of gasoline prices.

Allen worries Hurricane Katrina has taken the wind out of an economy that was moving in the right direction.

With gasoline racing past $3 a gallon, Bush's standing on dealing with those prices may be one of his biggest problems -- seven in 10 said they disapprove.

And just over half in the poll, 52 percent, said they disapprove of the president's handling of the hurricane.

For Bill Kane of Kingsland, Georgia, the government's slow response to the hurricane "was terrifying to see in our own country. It made you mad, because it made you think where's our money going?"

More evidence of problems with the storm response surfaced Friday when the Federal Emergency Management Agency announced it would discontinue a 2-day-old program to issue debit cards worth to displaced families.

The administration also dumped FEMA Director Michael Brown, who had come to symbolize the stumbling early days of the hurricane response, as commander of Katrina relief efforts. (Full story)

Brown once served as the judges and stewards commissioner for the International Arabian Horse Association.

"Bush puts people in jobs who don't know what they're doing," said Shirley Carignan, a retiree and a political independent from Weymouth, Massachusetts. "I think he's picking friends for these jobs. My girlfriend raises Arabians. You know horses, so what? Horses and people are different things."

The number of people who think the country is on the wrong track grew from 59 percent last month to 65 percent this month. Tumbling consumer confidence after Hurricane Katrina may be contributing to that sense of pessimism.

The RBC CASH Index, based on polling by Ipsos, showed that consumer confidence sank in September to the lowest level since early March 2003 before the start of the Iraq war.

Economic woes and a continuing war in Iraq have been complicated by the continuing hurricane recovery crisis.

"A lot of Americans don't pay attention to their leaders on a day-to-day basis," said Robert Blendon, a public opinion analyst at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government. "They measure presidents, governors and mayors on how they handle big events like a hurricane. This event is not over because the bodies are going to be discovered day by day."

Find this article at:
http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/09/10/bus....ap/index.html

[dissention]

Originally Posted by DavidMn

the one guy among the republicans that makes much of any sense to me is John McCain. One thing I hate about Bush and his handlers(See Svengali Rove) is how they tried to belittle his service record in Vietnam in the 2000 campaign. That was really tasteless in my opinion. I mean Bush never served his country in Battle. Clinton didnt either, just so no one thinks that I'm picking on one guy. I just have alot of respect for someone like John McCain or John Kerry that actually was in the field of battle. I dont approve of war, but I love our soldiers. Hope that makes some sense.

Fug, I hate McCain. Talk about a wet rag. His blind loyalty to his party makes my stomach sick and I think he has as much integrity as Jude Law's nanny.

[dissention]

Originally Posted by Brwn_eyes0511

Who exactly do they poll for things like this...no one I know that's for sure.

That's because they save the push polls for you and the people you know.