Parsing the Polls: The Bush Burden?

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Posted at 07:30 AM ET, 03/ 8/2006
Parsing the Polls: The Bush Burden?

As often happens at the start of a new month, almost every major media organization has released a national poll over the past week. And the surveys agree: President George W. Bush is not a very popular politician 8 months ahead of the midterm elections.

With the primary season kicking off this week, the prevailing political environment will begin to matter more and more. Bush's renewed struggles (after a brief -- and slight -- poll bump earlier this year) create the real possibility that he will be a drag on Republican hopes to maintaining majorities in the House and Senate in 2006.

While it's important to note that much can change before November, there does not appear to be any major outside event (barring, perhaps, the capture of Osama Bin Laden) that could provide an immediate boost to Bush's numbers over the next eight months.

This week's Parsing the Polls looks at Bush's current numbers and compares them to past midterm election cycles. Check out the surveys mentioned (Washington Post-ABC News, CBS News, CNN/USA Today/Gallup, and RT Strategies/Cook Political Report) for yourself for further reading......more........