Direction of the country polls People are satisfied and have VERY POSITIVE outlooks for the future.
Gallup Poll and CNN/USA Today/Gallup Poll
"In general, are you satisfied or dissatisfied with the way things are going in the United States at this time?"
12/6-9/01 Satisfied 70% Dissatisfied 28% No Opinion 2%
This was as low as 51% to 46% in December 2000. and historically this was last achieved temporarily in February of 1999. 70% is a VERY good number for Bush.
You are right about the fact that Bush allowed the Democrats to define him in a negative way during the campaign. First, they convinced senior citizens that Bush was going to take their Social Security away. Then they convinced younger people that Bush was "too stupid" to be president, this despite the fact that Bush had a Harvard MBA while Al Gore dropped out of college twice! Then on top of that, the Democrats released the Bush drunk driving story which was very damaging being that it was just a few days before the election. I don't think many people switched from Bush to Gore because of the DUI but a good many stayed home in disgust over it.
Bush's greatest tactical error of the 2000 campaign was allowing himself to be defined by the Democrats. Even many conservatives didn't know what he was all about and bought the spin that he was dumb and clueless.