Polls have consequences

September 13, 2005

This week’s polling data looks a lot like last week’s numbers. But it’s worth remembering that this is more than just an academic exercise.

* Washington Post/ABC News poll has Bush’s approval rating at 42%, the lowest of his presidency.

* Newsweek has Bush’s approval rating at 38%, the lowest of his presidency.

* Time has Bush’s approval rating at 42%, the lowest of his presidency.

* Pew Research Center has Bush’s approval rating at 40%, tied for the lowest of his presidency.

But if the president isn’t running for another term, how does his unpopularity affect his presidency? By emboldening Dems on the Hill.

With Republican poll numbers falling and the nation focusing increasingly on domestic policy, House Democrats are feeling new political confidence and taking on a rare offensive posture against the GOP.

Through mid-August, Democrats were feeling emboldened as public confidence dipped in the U.S. handling of the Iraqi conflict, Social Security reform and Congressional ethics. Then Hurricane Katrina brought mounting questions about the Bush administration’s response to the disaster.

“Hurricane Katrina has certainly changed the political landscape in the short term,” said one Democratic leadership aide. “Whether it does in the long term is another question.”

Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) was the first to call on Congress to return to session early to pass a relief package for the disaster area and led her party’s call for Michael Brown, the then-director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, to step aside. Democrats were also quick to call for Congressional hearings and for a push back on the regular agenda to make room for Katrina-related legislation.

This week, Pelosi will lead the Democratic assault once again, scheduling at least three events on key issues on which Democrats charge the GOP has faltered. Democrats also will continue to raise questions about the Republican management of the federal government at a time when many Americans are looking for assistance.

I know many grassroots Dems want to see this kind of aggressive style all the time, but it seems Bush’s plummeting support brings out the fighter in the Dem caucus.

A top Dem House aide said, “When [Bush is] weak, he can’t beat us up and call us obstructionists. He’s not in a position of strength.” That’s true. Ideally, Dems wouldn’t care quite this much whether Bush is calling them obstructionists or not, but it seems to be some kind of collective personality quirk. When a popular president is calling them names, Dems fret; when a 38%-support president calls them names, Dems shrug it off.

In either case, Dems are looking ahead with a plan to highlight how the Democratic approach to government is the ideal for these times.

…Democrats can strike hard against the GOP on core domestic issues including Social Security, federal assistance to disaster victims, the economy and ethics.

A senior Democratic aide said the test for the party and of its strength will really come in the months ahead.

“All four of those issues give Democrats a perfect opportunity to paint the ‘us versus them’ picture,” this staffer said. “This is what Democrats are about. It’s a matter of do we capitalize on it.”

Stay tuned.

The blood is in the water and it is attracting sharks. If the Democrats want to do something good for their country then now is the time to do it.
It is time to hit Bush and his miserable administration with everything they have. Keep up the tempo and emphasize the glaring failures of this
presidency. It is now or never. The time for caution is over.
FAILED PRESIDENCY is the message. TIME TO GO,BUSH! Repeat it!
It’s time to start boiling that tar and collecting those feathers.

  • Through mid-August, Democrats were feeling emboldened as public confidence dipped in the U.S. handling of the Iraqi conflict, Social Security reform and Congressional ethics.

    Valerie Plame who??? Good thing this one’s coming around again once the Grand Jury is finished. Funny how CNN has already seemed to have forgotten it.

  • Whoops – why did I attribute that to CNN?? It’s the Roll Call article that attempts to consign the Plame Affair to oblivion.

  • This finally may be the beginning of the end. One thing about America, is that when she starts to tear down somebody she built up, the fall can be fast and hard.

    The Muse wrote about this in today’s diary entry with:

    Mission Demolished

    The President stepped onto the deck of the Iwo Jima Sunday with considerably less fanfare than was deployed for his made-for-TV boarding of the Abraham Lincoln in ‘03. And this time he left the flyboy getup hanging in the costume department.

    But one thing that was not left hanging this time was a “Mission Accomplished” banner. Nor was this boat floating in picturesque San Diego Harbor. The Iwo Jima is docked along the Mississippi, just a few hundred yards from a city shattered by a gal named Katrina who may well have also laid waste to what’s left of the Bush presidency.

    Bush didn’t accomplish the mission in Iraq and he downright demolished the one that involved organizing a federal response to Katrina. It was his third trip to New Orleans since the storm, no doubt to assuage a conscience distressed by how his administration so belatedly figured out that this one was of the Biblical variety.

    It did not help that the FEMA director Bush told the world was doing a “heck of a job” had just handed in a heck of a resignation and, for once, a clear majority of Americans are angered over another muffed mission….

    http://www.eyewitnessmuse.com/diary.php?p=149

  • Your truly pathetic point goes a long way in explaining just why this country finds itself in the shape it’s in.

    Congressional democrats will not, even now, rouse themselves to condemn the Bushites for their Big Lies that manuevered this nation to war, but Things Are Looking Good Maybe If Only Hey Look At That Poll Will Ya Gee Willikers Sieze The Moment!

    Any party that betrays its country in matters of war and peace is no damn good. The only way congressional democrats can right themselves now is to admit error, ask forgiveness, or get out of Dodge. Barring that, they deserve to be be voted out of office, and replaced by others who will not shirk their duty by deferring to polls when the issue is war, and/or treason.

  • Well said, Sonoma.

    Bush took responsibility too soon. Check this
    in the Post-ABC poll:

    ” A 54 percent majority disapproved of Bush’s response to Katrina, while an even larger majority – 57 percent – say state and local officials should bear responsibility for the problems.”

    I don’t think what-me-worry has to worry much about the
    riptide from Katrina. I guess the rest of the American
    people haven’t yet heard about the hurricane. It’s the
    only way to explain this result.

    The only reason Bush was rehired was to keep America
    safe, and he flubbed it royally, and only 54% blame him.
    And in another week or two most of those will have
    forgotten about Katrina.

    By the way, aren’t the Democrats supposed to lead?
    Are they waiting until Bush approval slips to 20%
    before they stick their toes in the pool to test
    the waters? Shouldn’t they be making the poll
    results, instead of reading about them?

  • ” If the Democrats want to do something good for their country then now is the time to do it.”

    If the Democrats wanted to do something good for their country, they should have done it a long time ago. Their lack of willingness to do so says everything you need to know about them.

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