President Bush losing support among Hoosiers (Indianapolis Star)

[thinkingwoman]

http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060305/NEWS02/603050539

President Bush losing support among Hoosiers
Survey: Bush's approval rating has dropped 18 points in Indiana over the past year


Indiana voted twice to elect George W. Bush to the White House, but an Indianapolis Star poll indicates more than half of Hoosiers now disapprove of the job he's doing as president.

Only 37 percent of those surveyed last week think Bush is doing a good job as president, while 56 percent disapprove.

snip

How bad are the results for Bush? For a Republican in a red state like Indiana, very bad. The president's approval rating has dropped 18 points in Indiana since March 2005.

This article is worth the read. There's a nice sidebar with poll details and breakdowns. The only topic where Bush is still above 50% in Indiana is the fight against terrorism, but the disapproval numbers there are climbing.

[lovuian]

1. The pain is starting to twist and turn on the Republicans

and there is noone to blame for their downtrend of salaries healthcare and education ...its Bush's fault...

[ShockediSay]

22. Sounds like the Hosers are losing the Hoosiers

http://imageshack.us>

[goforit]

27. Yes, Bush does have some responsibilities. He's not off the hook!

[0007]

2. Then after one figures in the 7.5% fudge factor that is allowed

in red states. junior's number are around 30%.

[IndianaGreen]

3. Bayh won't carry Indiana in 2008, BUT Wes Clark could!

For those who will latch to these poll numbers to advance the candidacy of people like Bayh, Hillary, or Biden, FORGET IT! They won't carry Indiana!

Wes Clark or John Edwards could carry Indiana in 2008. Edwards impressed many people in here in 2004, and he sounds and looks better today than he did back then.

[bif]

4. You're right

The dumbshits will still blindly vote Republican every time. They just don't get it.

[thinkingwoman]

14. I would love the chance

to vote for either one of them--Clark or Edwards!

[calimary]

28. Damn, I'd LOVE to see Wesley Clark out there, too.

The more I see of him, and the more time I spend thinking about him, the better I like him, and the more viable he looks as a candidate/party standard-bearer. I think he'd have GREAT prospects for victory in '08. Meantime also, since he's appeared on Pox "news," more of the wavering opposition and disenchanted members of the enemy camp get to see him, too, and to acquaint themselves with the fact that Dems don't bite, NOR are they soft on national security or the military. The more people see Murtha out there, the more that notion gets reinforced, too, btw.

I love to see bush falling apart in the red states. Buyers' remorse, anyone? Maybe the false high is wearing off, and they're starting to rouse from their comas.

[ShockediSay]

19. Wes came across well this Sun AM on Geo Stephanopoulos

He looks better and better

Wes also said we need a special prosecutor to get to the bottom of the Abramoff thing

Maureen Dowd reported, on Feb 11, that "Republican Party leaders awarded Tom DeLay with a seat on the Appropriations subcommittee overseeing the Justice Department, which is investigating Jack Abramoff, including his connections to Tom DeLay."

http://select.nytimes.com/2006/02/11/opinion/11dowd.html

I think I'm with Wes on the Abramoff thing

[Pastiche423]

29. The people in Indiana condone the SOA?

[salin]

32. Beyond a few places in Indiana,

I doubt that most folks in Indiana have a clue as to what the SOA is.

[Zynx]

53. Most people in all states don't.

Most people have no idea just what we have done in our own hemisphere. When I tell them about our abuses, they are shocked out of their minds.

[Botany]

5. Even though Indiana went to bush in 04 ....

.... it was still not in the #s or size that was reported .....
In 7 counties if you voted a straight party ticket (dem only)
very often your vote for President was flipped to a 3rd party
canidate.

But to the rest of the bush dies hards watching Red China get the
deed to America, losing you medical coverage, the bloody war in Iraq,
the port deals, jobs gone, and Katrina are hitting the repugs in their guts
and their living rooms.

[thinkingwoman]

15. absolutely

one thing about Hoosiers is that you can only fool them for so long. And when they do figure out they've been had, it doesn't sit well.

We've buried a lot of Hoosiers from Iraq. But I think it was Katrina and the ports deal that have sealed it.

[hippiechick]

6. I'm floored !!

:wow: Who'da thunk? :applause: There's hope for some of these Bowhogs, yet!

[dogfacedboy]

7. More evidence that here in the Midwest, common sense eventually rules. n/t

[hippiechick]

8. Not particularly, we still have 'My Man Mitch' as Gov.

... George's 'Budget Director' pal and Eli Lilly Crony who's trying to sell the state toll road to (ahem) a foreign company ... meanwhile, the jobs and the educated folks are fleeing the state in droves.

:eyes:

[dogfacedboy]

9. Good point.

My Mom lives in NW Indiana, and we have relatives in the Huntington/Marion area. All Bush haters, as well as haters of the gov there.

[hippiechick]

10. If Mitch gets the boot after one term, then I'll have some hope ...

..there's an article in the Indiana forum also from this morning's Star that the same poll that gave il Bushie low marks, also has Mitch circling the drainpipe.

So let's hope that the folks around here can actually wake up and see that we're heading towards the waterfall and at least seriously consider a few Dem candidates, before we actually go over.


:hi:

[LiberalFighter]

12. We can only hope

Let's see
1) Indiana State Employees losing their right to bargain
2) Daylight Saving Time an issue
3) Selling the toll-road to foreigners
4) BMV
5) Maybe the Eli-Lilly scandal will bite him

What else is there?

[hippiechick]

13. I'm hoping the stadium boondoggle will bring him down ...

... it's a gazillion dollar expense the folks in this area simply can't afford; and if the Colts continue to choke, or if Irsay moves them, I can imagine Mitch being run out of the state on a rail.

That's the only reason I was glad to see him usurp the whole "I have a Dome" from Bart.

[LiberalFighter]

36. I got better names for stadium then Lucas Oil Stadium

My first thought was CHOKE STADIUM... cause they have never won a Super Bowl and always find a way to lose the big ones.

My second thought was name it SUPER BOWL Stadium... then they could always claim to play in the Super Bowl every year.

Considering that Lucas Oil is hdqtr in California it would seem that would signal Irsay's intention to move the Colts there.

2005 season in my opinion was the best chance they had and ever will have. If they couldn't do it last season they never will. How will they be able to continue to sell out the games? They had difficulty in 2004 and they weren't too bad. All it will take is for the Colts to lose a few games and they will start losing support again.

[thinkingwoman]

17. good reminder about DST!

When everybody has to change their clocks and try to remember which counties have which times this spring, look for Mitch's numbers to fall even farther!

[LiberalFighter]

37. I was so looking forward to their being a hodge podge of counties

with different time zones.

[thinkingwoman]

38. there still is in southern indiana

ok, maybe not a hodgepodge, but the central time block comes pretty far north and east.

It'll be fun to watch.

[aquart]

20. Foreigners control your roads??????????????

[thinkingwoman]

21. they will if Mitch's Major Bad Moves bill goes through

he'll lease the northern Indiana toll road to foreigners for 75 YEARS.

It's fricken unbelievable really.

[salin]

33. Didn't that make its way through the state senate this week?

UGH!

[IndianaGreen]

23. Yep, our GOP governor is selling our roads to a foreign company!

It is one of many faux pas by Bush's former budget director.

Put this together with the Dubai port deal, and Indiana does have a port on Lake Michigan, and you can see how even traditional conservatives are uneasy with the way the country is being bought and sold by the GOP.

[aquart]

34. Corporate raiders took us over, now selling our assets.

It's a standard corporate strategy. Doesn't work so well for a nation, does it?

[thinkingwoman]

16. He's well on his way

to being a one-term wonder.

[LisaLynne]

43. Mitch's numbers are dropping, too.

But, yeah, we still have brain drain. Personally, I need to figure out how to get on the brain drain train. :)

[LiberalFighter]

11. The only thing Indiana has is Hoosier Common Sense

An example is when they want to lease the toll-road for 75 years. For what? To creat jobs now and get a bundle of money to take care of shortfalls for the near future.

That 3.85 Billion is going to be worthless 20 years, 30 years, 50 years, 75 years from now.

I really hate it when ALL Indiana politicians talk about Hoosier Common Sense. Hoosier Common Sense is NOT any better than any of the other states. Generally, the politicians don't have better common sense then many of their citizens. To many of the politicians in Indiana are not interested in using common sense.

[tabasco]

18. How the hell can anyone think Bush is "strong against terror?"

This is the idiot administration that:

1. Ignored warnings and allowed terrorists to successfully attack NYC.
2. Abandoned the mission against the real enemy in Afghanistan to put our army on top of Iraq oil.
3. Never apprehended the masterminds behind 9-11.
4. Never apprehended the anthrax terrorist.

What the hell are these people smoking??

[thinkingwoman]

24. You're preaching to the choir

What's important to remember is that Indiana has been a kool-aid drinking state for a long, long, long time. This state has not voted Democratic for prez in DECADES. I'm 40 years old and my vote for prez has NEVER counted. Not once.

The fact that his approval is 37% here is cause for celebration.

The fact that his approval for terror is ONLY 52% is a sign of things to come. With the right campaign and candidate, Indiana could go BLUE in 2008.

[Ex Lion Tamer]

46. Sorry, but I think that's wishful thinking

I'm a lifelong Hoosier. Like your vote, my presidential vote has never counted either. It's very frustrating.

It's easy for a pissed right winger to answer a poll that he's pissed off at Bush. But it's something entirely different to actually pull a lever for a democratic presidential candidate!

Much as I'd LOVE to see it happen, I simply don't. I hope I'm wrong.

[thinkingwoman]

47. Probably is...

what I'm hoping for is a large number of pissed right wingers staying home, because you're right, they won't actually vote for a democratic candidate.

[Piscis Austrinus]

25. You could change "Hoosiers" to any other state-native name

...and that headline would still be true. If I remember the surveyusa.com results from February correctly (can't find the link; sorry about that), Bush has lost a significant amount of popular support in every single state, even in bastions like Utah and Idaho.

It's not comforting, however, to know he's destroying himself and his party along with the rest of the nation.

Peace
PsA

[thinkingwoman]

26. you're right about that

I saw those results too (thanks to fellow DU'ers). What is great is seeing it in the state's largest newspaper, because now everyone will know that their neighbors don't like him either.

Also, I like what you said about it not being comforting to know that he's destroying his party. Some Du'ers paint all republicans with a broad brush, and sometimes I am guilty of that myself, but the truth is that one party rule (or rule of thought) is wrong for this nation, no matter which party it is.

[entanglement]

30. The rats are abandoning ship!!!

IndyStar is (was?) a MAJOR ass kissing, apologist rag!

[depakid]

31. Nah- they'll keep supporting the far right

even though many of their communities have been devistated by their policies. Bush id just a convenient scapegoat.

[thinkingwoman]

39. you're right...it still is. nt

[Indy_Dem_Defender]

41. At one time The Star

was owned by In-Laws Of Dan Quayle

[AnnieBW]

35. My Freeper In-Laws

I wonder if my freeper brother and sister-in-law (especially her) are still in love with *? They live in Carmel, IN. Just outside of the county that Indianapolis is in, to avoid paying the higher taxes.

[thinkingwoman]

40. My cousin is from carmel

not only do they avoid indy taxes, they avoid indy minorities.

[autorank]

42. Recommended. Thanks. I love Indiana...this would make it even easier.

I used to travel there in the 80's every now and then on business. Nicest people I've encountered, sincerely so. I always wondered, what happened to the great state of Birch Bayh, Hartke, etc.?

Well, they're back. Great news.

Sen. Vance Hartke, D, IN: "a hard-working, liberal Democrat"

Sen. Birch Bayh, D, IN: "As Chairman of the Senate subcommittee on Constitutional Amendments, Bayh was the principal architect of two constitutional amendments:

* The 25th Amendment, which established the rules for presidential succession and disability.
* The 26th Amendment, which lowered the minimum voting age to 18.

Bayh was also the principal architect of the Equal Rights Amendment, which was not adopted.

Additionally, he served for many years on the Senate judiciary committee and was involved in two nominations in which the nominee was declined."

[izzybeans]

44. They didn't indicate their sampling procedure which leads me to believe

that this reflects the right-wing raginess of this paper. Perhaps the state has turned even more negative than the Star indicates.

Common phrase: "I can't wait tell that asshole is gone." this refers to either the president or the governer. The state GOP is in trouble, me thinks.

[thinkingwoman]

48. Yeah, that concerned me a little

but, like you, I figured if they weren't talking about it, that it meant the results were even more negative.

Hope so anyway!

[GOPFighter]

45. As a former Hoosier...

This just reinforces my belief that Bush is toast. He will be reviled as the worst President ever. In fact, in 5-10 years from now when we know more about what really went on in the White House, we will be flabbergasted at how inept, incompetent, and dangerous this bunch was.

But while Indiana may be turning their backs on Bush, I'm confident they will continue to give Alabama, Mississippi, and Kansas a run for the title of kookiest voters in America.

[thinkingwoman]

49. My daughter's best friend lives in Mississippi

It's uncanny how similar these states are!

[underpants]

50. WOW Heartland voters are turning like Heartlanders on W in a Heartland way

Did I mention that this represents the Heartland?

[thinkingwoman]

51. You know why they call it the Heartland?

Cause the brain's not there (special thanks to Sam Kinison for that joke)

Hey underpants! Great to see ya! :hi:

[underpants]

52. HI!

:hi: