Posted on 02/03/2005 12:24:13 AM PST by RWR8189
CNN) -- President Bush's State of the Union address raised support for his policies on health care and Social Security among people who watched the speech, according to a CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll conducted Wednesday night.
The percentage of respondents who said the president's proposals in those areas will help the country rose 15 points from when the same question was asked of the same people in the two days before the speech.
In the post-speech sample, 70 percent of respondents said Bush's policies on health care were positive, while 66 percent approved of the president's plan for Social Security.
Bush showed almost as much improvement on Iraq, with 78 percent of respondents saying U.S. policy there is heading in the right direction, a 12 percentage point increase over pre-speech polling. Overall, 77 percent of respondents said Bush is taking the country in the right direction after the speech compared to 67 percent beforehand.
[snip]
Overall, Bush got very positive or positive reactions to his speech from 86 percent of respondents, his best numbers since the State of the Union address he gave January 29, 2002 -- just four-and-a-half months after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 -- when 94 percent of those polled gave him positive marks.
(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...
Gallup Ping
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Meanwhile, in The offices of various Democrats, as these results were read by staffers, there was a collective need for fresh Depends...
Denny Crane: "There are two places of truth. First God and then Fox News."
Looks good..but is it for real??? I don't know if I believe any polls anymore--positive or negative...
I'm shocked! /s
Enlightening KII.
NOW I know where a brunt of my hard earned tax dollars are going! ; )
DU'ers will be drinking the kool aid in large quantities today...
thank you for this news. CBS did a poll too, I heard the great numbers discussed on CBS overnight news show, but I can't find it online.
Lookie here!
I would tend to believe this one because the same people were polled twice, once before, once after the speech.
The President did a great job of communicating the issues and his plans in a clear, concise, way...IMHO, that is the reason for the positive upward motion in the poll.
Apparently. Looks like it was an effective speech. It's surprising to me though--because my gut reaction as I was watching it was that it was--stylistically- just a good speech-not one of his great ones.
Against that, the Dems have been particular bad with Kennedy's speech, Kerry's bad-mouthing the Iraqi elections on MTP, and the ghoulish Pelosi/Reid monster giving the Dem rebuttal. Egad, I'd hate to be in the Dems offices tomorrow morning.
Enjoy while ye may; because politics is cyclical and there will be more bad times (and good times ahead). But at least we're catching some breaks.
Er, how can accurate polling be made so quickly? I heard Zogby once. [Yss, he slant his polls a lot but he's the best when he wants to be.] Zogby said it takes three days to make a good poll.
I hadn't heard the speech, so please forgive me if this question is over the top: is this poll designed to coax Bush to the left?
Its not really an ideal poll, but what they did was contact people a few days ago and ask them questions, and then call them back tonight and see if their views had changed.
Sounds like a smart idea the way this poll is run.
[Trying to smile, browsing for transcript of speech, grumbling...]
Wonders never cease, this is CNN!
It was his best speech since 911 because of his confidence, his intensity and his humor all showing through. The words didn't matter as much, what was striking was how he appeared to be at the top of his game, sure of foot and quick. Usually, he is not a great speaker, but last night was an exception. The man is in the zone.
I doubt many Democrats were watching.
Great salesmen do not make great speeches. It matters not if they are selling insurance policies or policies for a nation. What they do is make sales. Speeches that change minds are never considered great speeches.
The people who heard Lincolns Gettysburg Address were not convinced the Lincoln was doing the right thing in the Civil War. The Gettysburg address at the time was universally panned by both Republican and Democratic pundits. Yet historians have called it the best speech ever made by a president. At the time it was a failure and did not accomplish what Lincoln was trying to accomplish.
A cabinet member spoke before Lincoln and his speech was widely hailed as great. The consensus a the time was Lincoln as a speaker was not in the same class as his underling.
Great speeches will never get Bushes agenda passed in congress. Effective sales pitches will.
People who don't understsand what it takes to be an effective president selling an agenda, always misunderestimate George W. Bush.
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