MonsterMark
Dedicated LVC Member
Bush poll numbers up to 34% while Congress is nearly at ZERO. After the Patreus report, Bush will close in on 50%.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
From the USA Today today
A hint of more positive news for the Bush admininstration
We’re seeing some slight hints of positive news for the Bush administration. For one thing, Bush’s job approval rating has stopped its downward trajectory. Bush hit bottom with his administration low point of 29% in early July (based on our USA Today/Gallup poll readings). Now – in the data just about to be released from our weekend poll – Bush's approval rating has recovered slightly to 34%. That’s not a big jump, but it is the second consecutive poll in which the president’s numbers have been higher rather than lower.
Also, we are seeing a slight uptick in the percentage of Americans who say the “surge” in Iraq is working. That may not be a total surprise given the general tone of news out of Iraq recently, including the positive light on the situation put forth by Michael E. O’Hanlon and Kenneth M. Pollack in their widely-discussed New York Times op-ed piece “A War We Just Might Win” on July 30. But it represents a change.
Indeed, the most recent New York Times/CBS News poll itself found a slight increase in the percent of Americans saying that the U.S. did the right thing in taking military action in Iraq, and were so uncertain about it that they redid the survey. And found the same results. (See this discussion by the Times’ Janet Elder).
None of these numbers are in and of themselves the types of public approbation exciting enough to cause champagne corks to pop in the White House. After all, a job approval rating of 34% only looks good when it is compared to a declining job approval rating of 29%. And having 31% of Americans saying that the surge is making things better in Iraq is still far from a majority.
But the upward tilt in the numbers for Bush and his administration is certainly better than a continuing downward flow. Things in politics move in ebbs and flows, of course. It’s been more downward ebb than upward flow for the administration for a long while now. The next several months – including the September report from General David Petraeus which now appears to be as eagerly awaited as Moses' review of what he found atop Mount Sinai – should be quite interesting from a public opinion perspective.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
From the USA Today today
A hint of more positive news for the Bush admininstration
We’re seeing some slight hints of positive news for the Bush administration. For one thing, Bush’s job approval rating has stopped its downward trajectory. Bush hit bottom with his administration low point of 29% in early July (based on our USA Today/Gallup poll readings). Now – in the data just about to be released from our weekend poll – Bush's approval rating has recovered slightly to 34%. That’s not a big jump, but it is the second consecutive poll in which the president’s numbers have been higher rather than lower.
Also, we are seeing a slight uptick in the percentage of Americans who say the “surge” in Iraq is working. That may not be a total surprise given the general tone of news out of Iraq recently, including the positive light on the situation put forth by Michael E. O’Hanlon and Kenneth M. Pollack in their widely-discussed New York Times op-ed piece “A War We Just Might Win” on July 30. But it represents a change.
Indeed, the most recent New York Times/CBS News poll itself found a slight increase in the percent of Americans saying that the U.S. did the right thing in taking military action in Iraq, and were so uncertain about it that they redid the survey. And found the same results. (See this discussion by the Times’ Janet Elder).
None of these numbers are in and of themselves the types of public approbation exciting enough to cause champagne corks to pop in the White House. After all, a job approval rating of 34% only looks good when it is compared to a declining job approval rating of 29%. And having 31% of Americans saying that the surge is making things better in Iraq is still far from a majority.
But the upward tilt in the numbers for Bush and his administration is certainly better than a continuing downward flow. Things in politics move in ebbs and flows, of course. It’s been more downward ebb than upward flow for the administration for a long while now. The next several months – including the September report from General David Petraeus which now appears to be as eagerly awaited as Moses' review of what he found atop Mount Sinai – should be quite interesting from a public opinion perspective.
