Do 40% of the people you know support Bush?

[mwb970]

The polls show a 40% approval rate for the president. I'm not all that social a guy, but I have about 12 to 15 people that I talk to regularly enough to know their political opinions. Among these people, Bush's approval rating is 0%. They all hate him, some quite a lot.

I recently went on a walking tour of Spain. There were 18 people in our group, all from America, and over the course of our trip we often discussed American politics. Again, approval for Bush was at a solid 0%. Every single person on that trip (including the guide, who was Spanish) thought that Bush is the worst American president ever.

I was at a training session for small business people last month. At the break, someone said something disparaging about Bush. Everyone else (about 12 attendees) chimed in with eye-rolling agreement. Bush approval rate: 0%.

Now, maybe I'm in a Bush-like bubble and have arranged my life so I don't encounter Bushbots. (For example, I don't attend church.) But how is it even possible that 4 out of 10 Americans approve of the unbroken record of failure held by this man, both in the presidency and before? Where are they all? Maybe they are in your area?

I don't trust the opinion polls any more than I trust the Diebold election results. I think we're being tricked.

[BleedingHeartPatriot]

1. If I took a guess, I'd say between work, family and friends for whom I am

certain of their political leanings, about 7 out of 100 are bushbots. MKJ

[larrysh]

7. I know an awful lot of people who disapprove of what Bush

did in Iraq, and would not vote for him again, but who still support his
Presidency. Probably 6 or 7 out of every 10 I know disapprove of the war, but still approve of Bush overall. I think they have a lessor of two evils approach. I'm in Houston.

[larrysh]

8. I know an awful lot of people who disapprove of what Bush

did in Iraq, and would not vote for him again, but who still support his
Presidency. Probably 6 or 7 out of every 10 I know disapprove of the war, but still approve of Bush overall. I think they have a lessor of two evils approach. I'm in Houston.

[zcflint09]

2. Out of the regular crowd I'm around...

I can honestly say out of the people whom have expressed thier feelings about the President to me, it's not a solid 0 but it's nowhere near 40%.

[rox63]

3. Hell no!

Of course, I'm in Massachusetts, perhaps the bluest state in the country. Soon to be a shade of deeper blue, once we get rid of our despicable repug governor.

[izzie]

4. Had a work man that came to house about a year ago who

said he thought he was great. And I live next door to a 'church' group that fire off guns all the time and I would take bets they love him also. But that is it.

[onenote]

5. where do you live?

Its not as if chimpy's support is evenly distributed throughout the country on a geographic or demographic basis. Whether its 34% or 40% percent is just guesswork. The more important issue is whether those who still support him are more or less motivated than those who don't support him. And the answer, from everything I've seen, is that his support is lukewarm, but the opposition is fired up. And that's what we need to maintain through election day.

[mwb970]

48. I'm in Columbus, Ohio.

In fact, I'm in the Pryce-Kilroy House election district you sometimes hear about. I see fewer W04 stickers these days but I'm sure there are Bushies around. I guess I just don't know them.

[demnan]

6. It does seem crazy that anybody likes Bush

but just looking at my small department at work, I know that we have 4 Republicans versus 3 Democrats. I'm also doing phone canvassing in Northern VA. Door-to-door doesn't count, because we're targeting Democrats there, but the phone calls reveal about 40 % of people won't even talk to us about Webb and Hurst or any Democrat.

I live in Virginia, but its Northern Virginia. And two of the most adamant Republicans at work live in Maryland.

[Nay]

32. Here in Richmond, plenty of people are still bushbots. These are

mostly my coworkers and some religious neighbors. Among the people I voluntarily associate with, the percentage is near zero.

In 2004, there were even some dems who voted for the idiot in chief because they were "scared." Unbelievable.

I agree with Warpy that only a series of major national disasters (economic, health, whatever)will shake these people out of their trances. And even then, there will be many who say, "the dems do the same things, tooooooo!!!!"

[lostnotforgotten]

9. Regrettably Yes!

Most of these folks are work acquaintances.

[zanne]

18. Alot of it is a cultural identity issue.

Bush brought all conservatives together, not only politically, but culturally. There's a Nascar racetrack not far from here. A few years ago, I drove past as people were pouring in. Thousands of people who all looked alike, wearing jeans and T-shirts and most of them a flag decal or actually carrying a flag. It was like some Bizarro World Woodstock. The center of this culture is the Republican party and they identify with that very strongly; alot of them will vote Republican even if they disagree with them on most of the issues, because it's "their" party and their identity.

[lostnotforgotten]

19. Yes, I Call This Feature Of American Behavior - Intense Tribalism

eom

[immoderate]

38. Good point -- propensity to tribal behavior cannot be over-emphasized.

--IMM

[Nay]

33. So very true, zanne. The pubs have managed to brand themselves

very handily, and made their party a true tribe, rather than a political party that has to come up with solutions to problems or lose elections. I know several people who will vote repub no matter what -- it's very similar to the way the Chicago Cubs fans work. They may do badly and even BE bad, but the "it's my tribe" mentality wins out over sanity and reason.

[femmocrat]

10. I don't go around asking people, but....

I don't know anyone who supports Bush. If I did, I would drop them off my "buddy list" !

[mdmc]

11. More or less

40% don't think we will keep them safer... Actually, many are conceding that w.'s cowboy politics is not in our best interest.

[proud2BlibKansan]

12. I used to agree with you

I didn't trust the polls either. But I protest the war and we are visited by el pretzeldente's fans. They are a minority. The vast majority of passing motorists honk and wave and are in complete agreement with our opposition to the war. But his fans are out there and they are very vocal.

bush could kill a baby on live television and his believers would swift boat the baby.

[minnesota_liberal]

13. Among my friends, Bush's approval rating is 0%

Of course, I'm very selective about my friends.

Among my co-workers, Bush is batting about .200. Can't do much about that since I work with some people who are politically immature.

[davekriss]

26. where I work

amongst my middle and senior management cohorts, Bush bats around .800. The supporters are either Ayn Rand social darwinists, religious zealots (and hypocrits), or politically brain-dead and merely responding to the pixellative stimuli wafting forth from Fox news.

[minnesota_liberal]

29. Hopefully those in your social circle are more enlightened.

Things go better at work if I don't discuss politics with the neo-fascists and Rapture-rightists. If they happen to initiate the conversation, I state facts as facts and opinions as such. Maybe they'll figure it out.

[davekriss]

44. Socially I run around with zero Bush supporters

I follow the same guiding principles at work. However, if they initiate discussion (and everyone knows I'm hard left at work), I always speak the truth as I know it.

[acmavm]

14. Of course not. But then again the only bush** supporter that I talk to

is my Mom. And I do that only because she's elderly and ill. I can't be around anyone who's that crazy or stupid.

But suprisingly enough the red necks I work with all think he has to go. That tells me a lot.

[Island Blue]

15. Probably.

Of my close friends, I only know of one * supporter, but out of the people I work with, other people I know in the community, and my extended family, there are many more. Of course I'm in the South and surrounded by people who have been indoctrinated with conservative religious beliefs so that should be taken into account.

On the other hand, my dad recently participated in a cross country bicycle tour with a group of folks from all across the US. There were 35 people in the group, and my dad said that *'s approval rating among ride participants was 0%.

I guess it all depends on who is polled.

[magellan]

16. More like 1%

I suspect the new next-door neighbors might, but I haven't asked. I know the couple down the block do. And there's my aunt.

How many people a person knows that support Bush** isn't really a meaningful way of learning anything, though. For example, I've gotten very picky about who I'll socialize with, if you know what I mean. And I'm a hermit anyway.

As for the polls, they're crap for the most part. The only one I pay any attention to at all is the Ipsos, since it seems to historically peg an average of the others.

[riona]

17. In my area of suburbia,

very likely yes. Then again, they would vote for a chimp as long as it was a repug. Now that I think of it....

[kevinbgoode]

20. I asked members of one of my classes this a couple of weeks ago

and four out of 23 said they supported the President. . .and they seemed a bit reluctant to admit it. What is also interesting is that four identified as Republicans....five as Democrats, and the rest as independents.

That led me into a nice five minute admonishment as to why all the independents let two parties which apparently don't represent their interests run the show.

[lostnotforgotten]

23. I Am Now Independent As Well

Why, because neither party is willing to fight for its core principles.

I watched, as a Democratic voting clerk in 2004, the ES&S machines steal the vote in Dallas county Texas.

Reported same to local party headquarters.

The party did nothing.

My philosophy now is if you want my vote you have to earn it.

I don't see any party doing that.

[warrior1]

21. No

[acmejack]

22. Yes.

There are solidly Bush supporting areas in the Country. Most of Texas, there are a lot of places that love his sorry ass. Why I have no clue.

[Golden Raisin]

24. It's not 40% but sadly, yes,

I know people who STILL support Bush although I no longer hear quite the ringing defense of Bush so much anymore. They are predominantly from work. What's surprising is I live and work in New York City where it's pretty liberal, but many of these colleagues commute in from the wealthy, heavily Republican suburbs. The one who just floors me is gay, an army veteran, who's lover/partner was killed in one of the Towers on 9/11, who just thinks the War in Iraq and Bush are swell and those of us who oppose are scoundrels and traitors. He's a real flag-waver and the U.S. can do no wrong. Thinks all Repubs are swell and all Dems are shit.

[HughBeaumont]

25. That'd be like NO one in the room I work at . . .

. . . and two are Republicans.

[TreasonousBastard]

27. I trust the polls...

partly because I understand what they do and how they do it, but in this case it's pretty well axiomatic that there are about a third hardcore Republicans and a third hardcore Democrats with the rest leaning one way or the other. The hardcore can change, but it takes a lot to do it, and it doesn't last for long.

Looks like Shrub's support is down to the hardcore loyalists, and that ain't gonna change unless they feel something personally. Even then it's gotta be a really hard hit in the stock market or the revelation that Shrub isn't such a good Christian after all.

[FILAM23]

28. I would say here its about 80-90%

in favor of Bush. However I live in Waco, Tx

[Ronnie]

30. 40% of the people I know

used to support Bush. Lately, they haven't wanted to talk about politics.

[lectrobyte]

31. Amongst my neighbors and coworkers here in NC, I'd say more than

that. Shaking head in disbelief.

[Name removed]

34. Deleted message

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[Don Claybrook]

41. Which part of Utah are you from?

.

[newspeak]

45. Oh yeah, 60 or 70% must be Idaho or Utah

but, I doubt it's 70% even in those states. If 60-70% support * then they have no idea of his family's business dealings or else they condone it. They believe he really is a Christian and he hears voices from the sky-God telling him to do heinous acts or they believe Jesus when he says that you will know them by their acts. Is his acts Christ-like? If 60% still support him, then they must not know of his family's dealings with a man who thinks he's the new messiah, cause you know, Jesus just didn't do it right. If 60% still support him, then I would say sixty percent may have wife-beating syndrome that needs an authoritarian, bully sort of type using fear and intimidation to give them some sort of infantile false security. If 60% still support him, then they don't mind being lied into war and allowing their hard earned money to disappear with no accountability and their family members die for such a lie-that BJ must be much worse than lying us into a war. If 60% still support him, then they must think the Constitution and the Bill of Rights are no longer necessary as long as they can be assured some form of artificial security "Those who trade liberty for a little security, deserve neither liberty nor security." If 60% still support him, then they must be doing rather well, their pensions and health insurance are not being threatened and they are earning much more than minimum wage. If 60% still support him, they must agree that his policies override any policy that requires that their children have safe, clean drinking water and breathable air and safe, edible food. After all, corporate profits may come before the safety and well-being of your children. If 60% still support him, then maybe America deserves the government they get.

[salin]

37. not so here in Red Indiana... and folks appear to be set to take it out

in the elections... Three GOP congressmen are in fights for their political lives - and all three races have just tipped to favor the democratic candidates.

Of course folks here are angry at Bush and his former OMB henchman now Gov Mitch Daniels.

[Cleita]

35. I have had the same experience. Even the Republicans who

once voted for Bush regret it and don't like him. I haven't found more than 0% approval in my social orbit. I don't know where they found that 40% unless these were brainwashed fundie kool-aid drinkers because I think these are the only people who still approve of him.

[Jade Fox]

36. I know some.....

They have just stopped thinking entirely. Bush is the President so he can do no wrong...Bush is a Christian so he can do no wrong....

Their support for Bush was never based on rationality, so it doesn't need to adjust much.

[Serenades]

39. Well . . .

About 85-90% of who I know or converse with on a regular basis whether it be church, friends, or acquaintances support Bush no matter what.

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

40. Come to North Dallas. They're all here. Seriously.

[Selatius]

42. I live in Mississippi. Wanna take a wild guess at the numbers here?

Hint: It's higher than 40.

The fact that you live in a bubble doesn't really help you look at reality when you're talking about people or politics.

[Jed Dilligan]

43. I think it's going to be close to 0% or close to 100%

depending on where you live. The 40% is an aggregate that doesn't represent anyone's real social world.

[ShortnFiery]

46. No Way! And I know traditional Conservatives - they hate him MORE!

Traditional Conservatives despise what he has done to our economy. :(

[Imagevision]

47. Here: Bush popular with one in ten...(maybe)