Tempered Public Reaction to London Attacks: Bush Approval Rises Modestly

[ECH1969]

The American public has had a measured reaction to last week's terrorist bombings in London. Interest in news reports on the bombings is at about the same level as for the Madrid terrorist attacks in March 2004, while concerns over another terrorist attack in this country are somewhat higher than after the Madrid train bombings. And by two-to-one the public rejects the idea that terrorist attacks over the past few years are part of a major conflict between the West and Islam.

President Bush's approval ratings are somewhat higher than in the past few months. Overall, 47% approve of Bush's job performance while 46% disapprove. In May and June, more people disapproved of Bush's job performance than approved.

Bush's favorable rating stands at 53%, largely unchanged in recent months. A survey released last month by the Pew Global Attitudes Project showed that Americans generally express more confidence in Blair than Bush to do the right thing regarding world affairs; 73% of Americans have a lot or some confidence in Blair, while 62% say the same about Bush

http://people-press.org/reports/display.php3?ReportID=249

[indepat]

1. That DSM and Plame layered on all the other equal a 53% favorable rating

say everything we need to know about about one-half of all Americans.

[Disturbed]

2. Around half of Amerikans

are stupid &/or ignorant. That really cheers me up. Most Amerikans are not into politics. Most are into sports, entertainment &/or hobbies. A huge % don't bother to vote in any elections. Soundbytes on TV is mainly what they pay attention to for about two minutes and don't think further.
It is never the masses that rise up to combat oppression;rather a small group that is dedicated to fend off oppression. Also, change usually comes about gradually perpetuated by a few persistent, dedicated people.

[indepat]

8. Add the Christian right and other brainwashed RW ideologues to the other

stupid and/or ignorant and bingo, Houston, we have a humongous problem in the US of A.

[lancdem]

6. This poll was done before the Rove Plame revelations

of yesterday and today. It was ignored by the MSM before that. The approval bump will be gone in a week or so; it's temporary. The terrorist attacks meant a brief respite for Bush, that's all.

And his approval is still under 50 percent, even with the bump. That's still lame.

[Media_Lies_Daily]

12. Well, it certainly says a great deal about those that believe polls.

[depakid]

14. Really

but there's no telling people how flawed these cheap media polls are- no matter how many times you point out their myriad flaws, people here still believe them....

That's why they're so effective at driving public opinion- which is what they're meant to do.

[CJCRANE]

3. Why does his approval

only go up when something bad happens?

[Gidney N Cloyd]

4. How do you get a 47% approval rating and a 53% favorable rating?

AND 62% with some or a lot of confidence (oops, sorry, meant "a lot or some")

When they say "Pew," they're not kidding...

[lancdem]

9. LOL

[Name removed]

5. Deleted message

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[grytpype]

7. Bad news for us is good news for him.

I guess if there were more deaths, his approval might be higher.

[Name removed]

10. Deleted message

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[datadiva]

11. Overall 47%?

Okay, I live in California, but I really find this hard to believe. There can't be that many people in the "Red States." Can there?

[Gregorian]

13. This is total bullshit

We're talking about a thin margin of people who are answering engineered questions that produce predicted answers. It's bullshit because the number of people polled is ridiculously small, the types of answers are limited to a special selection, and those polled are not able to express their opinions in a meaningful way. I would imagine the number of questions is also less than adequate.

What IS meaningful is that over 0% of America has any inclination to not want to see Bush fall in front of a locomotive.

I would also wager that almost no Americans know the slightest bit about Blair. You can only see him on Cspan, and even then one would have to follow European papers to have his history. How many of these poll takers have ever even seen Prime Ministers questions in the House of Commons?

These polls are crap. You'd be better off wasting your time playing ping pong.

[reBel_gyrl]

15. this scares me..

on the news today they were saying that the London attacks will actually improve Bush's approval rating.. Can someone explain this logic to me? The more terrorists attacks we are forced to endure, the BETTER Bush is doing? I just don't get that.. They are also saying that his rating will go up for a moderate time, as will support for the war (again, completely backwards f*cking logic) then plateau back to his usual low, until the next attack, then it will soar again. Are people so stupid to think this attack proves his "theory" is working? "Fight them over there so we don't fight them here." Guess what? London is as good as here, as far as I am concerned. So "over there" just means anywhere that is not American soil, and screw it even if it's our ally(s) being hurt? LAME.

[jenmito]

23. Bush supporters are brainwashed

Bush has convinced about half of Americans that he really cares about protecting them and that he will. Whenever an attack happens, Bush runs in front of a camera talking about his "resolve" and explaining that the attack happened because "they" are ruthless killers who hate our freedoms. And he tells them that the killers will NOT "shake our resolve or change our way of life." (applause) "We will prevail." (applause) "This proves we must stay on the offense by killing them "there" so we don't have to fight them "here." (applause, even though the "killers" just DID attack "us here." (He acts like London is the same as the U.S., so "us" and "here" must mean the U.S. as well as London). His illogical speeches make no sense, yet his brainwashed supporters believe whatever he says. So if there's an attack anywhere, he can once again link 9/11 and "the killers" to our invasion of Iraq, saying, "See? THIS is why we have to fight in Iraq!" Any attack by al Qaeda gives Bush the opportunity to look "tough" as he conjures up the feelings people had on 9/11, and their desire to rally around the president. Does it make sense? NO. Does it work? YES-on his followers.

[UCLA Dem]

16. So when there's an attack he gets higher approval???

It just doesn't make sense. Doesn't that mean his policies aren't working? Isn't all this shit in the Middle East supposed to be suppressing terrorism??

:wtf:

[CJCRANE]

17. It's a catch-22

if there's no terrorism then people will start to wonder what the hell troops are doing 10,000 miles away in the desert and lose interest in fighting the neocons' "generational war".

(And yes, it's absurd because it may be the war that's causing the increased terrorism, which in turn justifies the war).

[daleo]

18. It seems like rewarding failure

It's the story of Bush's life, though.

[newscott]

19. When will people realize he is an abject failure?

Jesus Christ. How stupid can people be?

[bluestateguy]

20. That's some bounce, er, dribble

Guess terrorist attacks just don't pack the same punch for him as they used too.

Toodles!

[agincourt]

21. There's a big chunk of the population who think he's the messiah

They literally worship him or any other GOP pigboy in power. I don't know how people got that dumb, must've been the Operation Paperclip Goebbels propagandists who went to work for the conservatives after WW2.

[stepnw1f]

22. SURRRRRRRRRRRRE....

"Plop, plop, fiz, fiz, oh what a releif it is."

[Dogmudgeon]

24. Very modest

The statistical change is well within the margin of error.

--p!

[evirus]

25. read

read= emergancy authroity