Posted on 10/12/2005 8:31:55 PM PDT by counterpunch
Oct 12, 2005 — WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President George W. Bush's job approval rating has fallen to a new low of 39 percent in an NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll released on Wednesday.
Bush's approval rating dipped in the poll below a mid-September ranking of 40 percent. The survey also found only 28 percent of respondents believed the country was headed in the right direction, NBC reported.
Bush's political challenges have been piling up in recent weeks, from criticism over his handling of Hurricane Katrina, to growing unease over rising gas prices to conservative discord over the nomination of Harriet Miers to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Many conservatives are outraged that Bush picked the White House insider with no judicial experience instead of a judge with clear-cut conservative credentials who could be counted on to move the high court firmly to the right.
Twenty-nine percent of people surveyed said Miers was qualified to serve on the highest court in the United States, while 24 percent thought she was not qualified and 46 percent said they did not know enough about her, NBC said.
The poll also found that strong majorities did not believe that recent charges against former House Republican leader Tom DeLay of Texas or a federal investigation of Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, a Tennessee Republican, were politically motivated, NBC said.
DeLay has been indicted in Texas on money-laundering and conspiracy charges linked to campaign financing. Frist is being investigated over a stock sale.
With the 2006 congressional elections a year away, 48 percent of respondents said they preferred a Democratic-controlled Congress, compared with 39 percent who said they preferred Republican leadership, NBC said.
The 9-point difference was the largest margin between the parties in the 11 years the NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll had been tracking the question, NBC said.
The poll of 807 adults was conducted from Saturday to Monday and had a margin of error of plus or minus 3.4 percentage points
I wouldn't expect anything else from the Chicken Broadcasting Network.
The president has no power, the president has no power, the president has no power - that's the mantra from the media. Yet congress, both Republican and Democrat, are polling at least seven points behind the president.
But Bush has no political capital to spend. What crud.
Scott M. is the worse I have ever seen and it is like he has someting caught in his rectum.
I AGREE AGAIN
Never liked this guy.. we need someone with and explosive personality and agile intelligence... some one like Rumsfeld, who makes them look the fools they are. I LOVE to watch Rumsfeld spar with the fools of the media... :) , they simply can't compete with him.
Rove.
Does anyone really care what these polls say any more? They make such a big deal about them, then we trounce them come election time. So what's the point?
Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm . . . I wonder why ABCNews is publicizing another network's poll?!
FYI:
1.) NBC JA comparatives:
last poll: 40% approve 55% disapprove (-15)
this poll: 39% approve 54% disapprove (-15)
SINCE WHEN DOES 'NO CHANGE' CONSTITUTE A "PLUNGE"?!
2.) Polling methodology:
In typical MSM fashion, the MSNBC website DOES NOT provide sampling data other than
a.) the poll featured an atypically high MOE of over 4% vs the standard 3%, and
b.) the poll was conducted over a HOLIDAY WEEKEND -- a major NO NO in the polling business.
BOTTOMLINE: This poll was purposely designed to shape public opinion NOT gather valid polling results!
HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE . . .
FROM POWERLINE JUST TODAY:
But are Bush's numbers really that bad? His current Real Clear Politics average stands at 41.7% approval. That is at or about the low point in nearly five years in office. How does it compare to other presidents' lowest poll ratings? Actually, it's not bad. Here are the low approval ratings for the last seven presidents:
*Johnson: 35%
*Nixon: 24%
*Ford: 37%
*Carter: 28%
*Reagan: 35%
*Bush I: 29%
*Clinton: 37%
Yes, that's right: Every president since 1963 has had approval ratings, at one time or another during his administration, at least five points lower than Bush's current nadir.
http://powerlineblog.com/
Add the margin of error, and factor in the usual 10% MSM bias, and it's comfortabley above 50%. Nothing to worry about. And if we can get all the conservatives to quite whining and get behind our president, it'll be even higher than that.
Why? The President is not behind conservative causes.
According to Rasmussen, Republican JA ratings for the President 'pre-Miers' ranged from 77% - 81% (higher than Reagan's average). TODAY it's at 77% and as the holiday weekend numbers roll off, this percentage will increase.
Bottomline: Repubican JA ratings post-Mier -- NO CHANGE!
Many thanks partner for informing us about the formation of your very own kamikaze squad.
Then I find myself in distinguished company. God Bless President George W. Bush.
McClellen is from Texas. That's all that matters.
How come I've never in my life been polled by ANY of these "official" organizations? I'm listed.
You're absolutely correct. These polls are irrelevant.
I thought it was already 37% do they spike it up to 45% just to put it back down so they can say it is lower then ever?
I gotta agree. The guy always looks like he has a "deer in the headlight look"......
I just don't get these polls.
When will some of these pollsters call me?
Fat chance of that....
I agree. Ari Fleicher would not have put up with this stuff.
I have no reason why he is on this course. I really don't.
I am very disappointed in his domestic spending agenda.
IMOHO.
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