ABC: Bush's 33% Approval Rating Lowest Since Nixon for President Entering State of the Union Speech

[kpete]

Bush's 33 Percent Approval Rating Lowest Since Nixon for President Entering State of the Union Speech

ANALYSIS
By GARY LANGER

Jan. 22, 2007 — President Bush faces the nation this week more unpopular than any president on the eve of a State of the Union address since Richard Nixon in 1974.

Nixon was beleaguered by the Watergate scandal; for Bush, three decades later, it's the war in Iraq. With his unpopular troop surge on the table, his job rating matches the worst of his presidency: Thirty-three percent of Americans approve of his work in office while 65 percent disapprove, 2-1 negative, matching his career low last May.

Only three postwar presidents have gone lower — Jimmy Carter, Nixon and Harry Truman. And only one has had a higher disapproval rating, Nixon.

For Bush, the bad news just starts there. Dismay over the unpopular war is dragging him down across the board, from his personal ratings to his position vis-à-vis the resurgent Democrats. It's all a remarkable comedown for a president who, shortly after Sept. 11, 2001, saw his approval rating soar to the highest for any president in polls since 1938.

more at:
http://www.abcnews.go.com/Politics/PollVault/story?id=2811599&page=1

[LynnTheDem]

1. And the devil him/herself would have had "soaring approval rate" had s/he been

the president on 911.

And even then, George W. bUsh the Craven Coward took 3 days to come out of hiding.

[npincus]

2. Gallup had his Daddy at 28% (lowest job approval)

Chimpy has got to match or surpass that.... the cherry on this Oedipal disaster.

[bdamomma]

3. after his SOTU it will even be lower.

[iconoclastic cat]

5. It'll be so bad, the SOTU will be renamed the STFU. nt

[volstork]

22. ROFL!!! n/t

[lancdem]

34. lol

I love it!

[Johnny Noshoes]

40. nt

:evilgrin: :rofl:

[Arkansas Granny]

7. It should be. I can't thing of anything he might say that would raise it.

[Kikosexy2]

12. Any bets on how many times...

he'll use the words "freedom", "surge", "9/11", "winning", etc.??...

[leftyladyfrommo]

4. Couldn't have happened to a nicer person!

I think we may see him actually go lower than Nixon.

[npincus]

6. from your keyboard to G-d's ears!

:)

As long as he sinks below his Daddy. The whole trajectory of Chimp's life has been to beat his Daddy at something, that's why we're in Iraq. Shithead couldn't find Iraq on a map, but he HAD to go there.

[Blackhatjack]

8. Bush continues to violate basic principles of political survival.....

.... as the public opinion begins to turn against you, it is not enough to try and reach out to those against you. First you have to consolidate those still supporting you, then you reach out to bring others to your side.

Here Bush is violating this principle. He made a big issue of the fact that he was following the advice of Military Generals on the ground, and giving them what they wanted. Well the Military Generals have gone public with their opinion that more troops is not the answer. So instead of listening to them, Bush now ignores them and steps up the troop surge anyway. The public also sees that the Iraqi government is against it, the Pentagon is against it, and the Congress is against it.

Those who have family and friends in the military have faith in the Generals on the ground in Iraq, and when Bush obviously and publicly goes against their advice it cuts into his support among the 33% that still support Bush.

If you look closely at the 33% who still support Bush in his handling of Iraq, they are pretty easy to sort out. THe majority are military supporters, lifelong Republican zealots, and those still hoping for a miracle success in Iraq.

The only group that will be with Bush to the bitter end are the zealots. As Bush continues down this path, the other two groups will continue to fall away.

And just in case Bush might be interested, there is another political principle that is almost as important. THat is,never tell the American people you do not care what they think, and you are going to act against their wishes anyway. That is pure poison to even his strongest supporters.

[yardwork]

13. Thank you for that excellent assessment!

It's frustrating that it takes sooooooo long for so many people to wake up to the fact that the shrub is a fraud, but as the casualties mount, more are seeing the light.

[NNN0LHI]

19. You are leaving out a very important segment of our society who support the war

War profiteers.

Those who either are making money off of dead Iraqis or those who hope to.

They caught a couple of firemen in the area here who were collecting their full pay from the fire department while working as mercs in Iraq. (They said they were in the service.) They were each pulling down close to a quarter million dollars a year doing it. I bet they were vocal war and Bush supporters. And I bet there are a lot more people doing this.

Don

[Blackhatjack]

21. War Profiteers Are Definitely In There, But Are Small In Total Numbers....n/t

[stanwyck]

23. about the military supporters you mention

just want to clarify that many of us who support the military do not support Bush. In fact, we don't have accurate numbers of who in the military supports Bush. I guess if those numbers were good, we'd know. As for those of us who have family in the military (my son is a Marine on his third tour to Iraq), support for Bush is as mixed as the rest of the country. The mid-terms showed that areas around military bases had much lower support for Republicans than in previous elections -- no doubt, dissatisfaction with the current administration.
We support our military by wanting their use to be worthy. War is to be a last resort -- without a rush to judgment based on misinformation.
So, DUers are also military supporters. But not Bush supporters.

[Blackhatjack]

33. Very well said! I included military families because so many pollsters seem to believe...

... the military families do make up a substantial portion of those still supporting Bush's handling of the war.

I am heartened to learn that many military families are onto Bush, even if he holds the title of Commander in Chief.

If my son were overseas I would sure hope and pray that the Commander in Chief was making rational decisions that affected his welfare, and it would be hard to come to grips with the fact that Bush is delusional when it comes to the war in Iraq.

Thanks for your insights. We see military and their families in a very positive light here in NC, and we know they are caught in an impossible situation. They remain in our thoughts and prayers.

[stanwyck]

39. Thanks for your very thoughtful response! n/t

[politicasista]

9. Why is his approval rating not a zero yet?

He is still not going down fast enough.

[galadrium]

10. Even more interesting, the people who make up that 33% n/t

[RedStateShame]

11. Too bad we don't have the balls to impeach a president any more.

We're too concerned about "healing."

[tblue37]

30. I have no doubt that the Congress will impeach him

eventually. They just want to do the investigations first to get strong public support, to guarantee that if the House impeaches the Senate will convict. They sure don't want to end up shooting blanks!

As of now, they don't have enough votes in the Senate to guarantee conviction. But once the hearings accumulate evidence that is then widely publicized (which will, of course, have to be accomplished against the MSM, since they will try to bury it), then the public will press their own senators to convict, too, and the impeachment will be successful.

Remember, impeachment in the House without conviction in the Senate does us no good at all.

[hashibabba]

14. I'll never understand why his ratings are as high as they are.

Except for the richest in this country, what can the average person name that he has done for this country? Are the majority of repubs still just supporting him because of his very conservative Christian views on abortion and gays? They don't care if Bush is about to start WWIII, as long as gays can't marry each other?

[stanwyck]

24. This is what we still hear, "well, we haven't been

attacked since 9-11."
And, that, apparently is because of Bush (!).
No critical thinking about why we were attacked during Bush's administration. Why his administration failed to act in the months preceding, despite growing evidence of threat. Or why Bush took more vacation time during that year than Truman did during his entire term.
No. It's "we haven't been attacked."
Nevermind that worldwide, attacks have increased.
If it ain't America, it don't count.
Let's face it, 33% of our country doesn't think in 3-D.

[yardwork]

26. We were attacked with anthrax after 9/11

But the shrubbies keep that quiet.

[whistle]

15. So, I expect his popularity to sag to 29% after tomorrow's SOTUS

[Rosa Luxemburg]

16. "I am not a crook" oh that was Nixon.....

[KoKo]

17. And they forget that it's the Criminal Activities of this whole Administration

including the war that are dragging him down. They want to paint it that "we aren't winning" in Iraq that's the problem and that's what Bush has been convinced by the neo-cons that's true. But, it's the whole stinking mess.

[gatorboy]

18. And that 30% OF America's knuckledraggers just keep on truckin'...

These people will never admit that they were wrong about the chimp. Nevah!

[The Wizard]

20. cross posted at Top 10 Conservative Idiots

His poll numbers are going down faster than Paris Hilton in the back seat of a limousine. I anxiously await single digits.
Let's see what happens after he mumbles, stumbles and fumbles through the State of the Union, and Jim Webb responds in plain English.

[truedelphi]

25. & His State of the Union Address will go on record as the very very

Shortest State of The Union Address ever

It will be two words: "Oh S%$t!"

[Beetwasher]

27. "It's all a remarkable comedown for a president who, shortly after Sept. 11, "

Actually, it's practically unbelievable. It's a stunning failure of a magnitude that is practically incomprehensible. To think what these guys squandered, all that good will and 90% approval ratings after 9/11. It's astonishing. It would be like if Bill Gates somehow found a way to squander his entire fortune in 6 years.

[paulk]

32. in some ways, that's the most remarkable thing , isn't it?

What could even a mildly competent President have done with the country so united behind him?
But, Bush -
and the crazies he surrounded himself with - threw it all away...

[Beetwasher]

37. Exactly, It Really Speaks To How Incompetent They Truly Are

Karl Rove is far from genius, as a matter of fact, he's not even good at all. He stinks. Anyone even mildly competent should have been able to retain at least some of that support and momentum that 9/11 gave them. They squandered it all and THEN some. Amazing.

[cboy4]

28. How in the hell can it be as high as 33?

Must be some of that Diebold math. :eyes:

[emmadoggy]

29. I'll never understand why his numbers are still this high either...

And some of these numbers make no sense to me at all. For example...

"Among people who oppose the war, a mere 10 percent approve of Bush's job performance"

How can you be opposed to the war and still approve of his job performance? That is so contradictory to me. I guess you can be against the war but still approve of enough other stuff he is doing (though I can't imagine WHAT!) to still come out with overall approval. Technically. But I can't comprehend it.

"Just 28 percent say the war has contributed to peace and stability in the Mideast, down from a high of 51 percent a year and a half ago. Just 36 percent say it's encouraged democracy in other Arab nations, down 13 points since last summer. And while nearly half, 48 percent, think it has helped to improve the lives of the Iraqi people, that's down from a peak of 72 percent in summer 2003. About the same numbers think the war will accomplish these goals in the long term."

These numbers blow my mind too. How can ANYONE think the war has contributed to peace and stability in the Mideast?! Umm, isn't WAR the opposite of peace?? And 48 percent think the lives of Iraqi's are better now? Maybe those 48 percent should hop on a plane and head on over there to hang out with an Iraqi family for a while. I think they need a good dose of reality. Good grief.

Nope, I don't get how his numbers are still in the 30's. They should be in the teens at best. :banghead:

[lancdem]

35. Don't you know

it's all those schools we're building ... :shrug:

[yojon]

31. I wonder if he cares

since he doesnt have to stand for election for anything anymore and he doesnt give a damn about anyone else. He can just flip everybody off and get away with it.

[Tatiana]

36. And after the SOTU, he'll hit the twenties. A new low.... n/t

[Zambero]

38. I wonder how many standing ovations he'll get?

The 2008 campaign isn't all that far off. At this point, how badly does a nervous GOP incumbent who'll be up for re-election want to be seen by his undecided constituents as whoopin' and and hollerin' up a storm as this president tries to sell the country on getting in deeper in Iraq? Bill Sali, R(Nutjob)-ID perhaps. But otherwise, I think not!!

[Patrick J Fitzgerald]

41. This can't help

UNITED STATES OF AMERCA
v.
I. LEWIS LIBBY,
also known as "SCOOTER LIBBY"

Count 1: Obstruction of Justice
Count 2-3: False Statements
Count 4-5: Perjury

Scooter lied to FBI agents on Oct 14, Nov 26, 2003 - Committed perjury on March 5 and 24, 2004 - Engaged in obstruction of justice by impeding investigation.

October 28, 2005 - The End of the Beginning.

Tomorrow...the beginning of the end.

The Libby Jury Is Seated - http://patrickjfitzgerald.blogspot.com

[halobeam]

42. 28% according to cbs..... heres the link.... he sinks in hours!!

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/01/22/opinion/polls/main2384943.shtml

[IWantAChange]

43. How does Chimpy define success in Iraq besides 'winning?'

Is it simply staying in Iraq until the end of his term, leaving the exit strategy to be developed by his successor as he rides off into the sunset to clear all that brush that's built up in Crawford while he's been 'workin hard?'

[Lugnut]

44. K&R

My hope is that he'll experience the same fate.