New lows in CBS/NYT poll

May 10, 2006

Given these results, Republicans who were worried about the elections in November have every reason to panic.

Americans have a bleaker view of the country’s direction than at any time in more than two decades, according to the latest [tag]New York Times[/tag]/[tag]CBS[/tag] News [tag]poll[/tag]. Sharp disapproval of President [tag]Bush[/tag]’s handling of gasoline prices has combined with intensified unhappiness about Iraq to create a grim political environment for the [tag]White House[/tag] and [tag]Congress[/tag]ional Republicans.

Mr. Bush’s approval ratings for his management of [tag]foreign policy[/tag], Iraq and the economy have fallen to the lowest levels of his presidency. He drew poor marks on the issues that have been at the top of the national agenda in recent months, in particular immigration and gasoline prices.

There has been plenty of recent polling data to chew on lately, but this one’s the worst to date for Bush and the GOP. In all, 70% of Americans said they believe the country is heading in the [tag]wrong direction[/tag]. The New York Times has been asking this question in its polls for 23 years — and this is the worst response yet.

* [tag]Approval rating[/tag]: Bush is down to just 31%, a new low in a NYT/CBS poll. Congress is down to a 23% approval rating, a drop of six points since January. That is about the same level of support for Congress as in the fall of 1994, when Dems lost control of both chambers.

* [tag]Iraq[/tag]: Only 39% said Bush made the right decision starting this war (a new low) and two-thirds said they had little or no confidence that Bush could successfully end the war. Americans believe Dems are better positioned than the GOP to make the right decisions about the war, 48% to 30%.

* [tag]Gas[/tag] prices: Just 13% approve of Bush’s handling of rising gasoline prices and prefer Dems to the GOP in handling the issue, 57% to 11%.

* The [tag]economy[/tag]: 27% said the approve of Bush’s handling of the economy, while 63% disapprove — the worst of Bush’s presidency.

* Dems on the upswing: Americans said [tag]Democrats[/tag] would do a better job dealing with Iraq, [tag]gasoline[/tag] [tag]prices[/tag], [tag]immigration[/tag], [tag]taxes[/tag], [tag]prescription drug[/tag] prices, [tag]education[/tag], and [tag]civil liberties[/tag]. On “[tag]moral values[/tag],” the public prefers Dems to the [tag]GOP[/tag], 50% to 37%, and on having “new ideas,” Dems have an even bigger lead over [tag]Republicans[/tag], 45% to 21%.

It looks like it’ll take more than just a modest staff “[tag]shake-up[/tag]” in the West Wing to turn things around.

Minor correction: 39% said the decision to go to war in Iraq was the right decision, not a wrong one.

  • If Bush had any integrity, he would apologize and resign.

    In all, 70% of Americans said they believe the country is heading in the wrong direction. The New York Times has been asking this question in its polls for 23 years — and this is the worst response yet.

    Worst. President. Ever.

    …and two-thirds said they had little or no confidence that Bush could successfully end the war.

    This is the brightest thing about this poll. It will make war with Iran almost impossible.

  • Even the Regal Moron has said he has no confidence that he can successfully end the “war” (invasion, conquest, quagmire). He’s leaving that – as he does all his failures – for the others (successors) to deal with.

    I’m not sure it will have any impact on the projected air force for nukular attacks on Iran. That’ll just be one more screw-up for successors to clean up.

  • “On “moral values,” the public prefers Dems to the GOP, 50% to 37%”

    That is just beautiful.

  • If a little less than two-thirds of the country now looks at the Iraq invasion with regret, shouldn’t the Democrats be promoting plans for an expeditious withdrawal as a unified party?

  • “It looks like it’ll take more than just a modest staff “shake-up” in the West Wing to turn things around.”

    That’s true, but he may have bottomed out, and there are contingencies outside of his control that may come into play before November. Gas prices will almost certainly go down by then, and there are disturbing suggestions that much of the public’s disaffection with Bush is due to prices at the pump.
    Then there could be a reduction of violence in Iraq and talk of bringing troops home.

    Finally, there are rumbles within the hawkish side of the Democratic Party – sorry, I don’t have the link – that most of their emphasis should be put on foreign policy in general, and fighting terrorism in paricular. I gather a get tough attitude. I shudder to think of what this country will be like if terrorism takes on the same fanatical, driving force that the cold war did for half a century. It is a bogus issue, but Democrats appear to want to play the paranoia card as eagerly as the Republicans,
    and we will suffer greatly nationally and globally if that becomes the dominant issue. I bring this up as a factor in November because a rift in the Democratic Party on Iraq and terrorism would confuse the public, and quite possibly deliver victory to the Republicans.

    Long-winded. Apologies.

  • Kid George is worse than the Titanic—at least the ship had some lifeboats. This guys got nothing but anvils hung ’round his neck. Anvils of his own making. He’s going to be nothing but a another decoration on the political sea-bed….

  • Here’s another “poll” of sorts.

    In my hobby – scale modeling – there are a lot of far-rightwingers involved, mostly the otherwise-unemployable ex-military “lifer” types.

    Anyway, three years ago, you could go to a show and see models made of things – airplanes, tanks, etc. – used in “Operation Iraqi Freedom” (in 2004, there was a “bulge” of models of the S-3 Viking he landed on the carrier in). But this last show I went to, there was exactly 1 model of something from Iraq. All of a sudden, the “war boys” aren’t making those models. Nobody’s saying anything, but the fact is, nobody’s saying anything about the war.

    I know this is sort of like reading Soviet policy by who was in what order standing on Lenin’s tomb used to be, but it is a “sign and portent.” And the ignorant right wing bimbo I publicly dissed ande got compliments for so coing was at another of these shows.

    Bush’s base really is eroding.

  • Bush’s polls still going down?

    Queue the music —

    … Went Down, Down, Down
    And The Flames Went Higher
    And It Burns, Burns, Burns
    The Ring Of Fire
    The Ring Of Fire …

  • A shift on the order of 1994, where control of one or both chambers changes, appears to be on the way. Could it, however, be a shift on the order of 1930?:

    “In the 1930 Congressional elections, Democrats gained 53 seats. In the 1932 election, they gained 97 more seats–a modern record–while taking the White House in the landslide.” [And keeping it for twenty years.]

    I don’t want to be overly optimistic, especially with the Diebold/Blackwells counting the votes. But right-wing talk radio and Fox are losing some of their faithful on top of the abysmal poll numbers. People who used to defend priznat have shut up and even turned on him. No future savior, or even clear ’08 fore-runner, has emerged, and most of the party’s leaders are unpopular.

    Are people at large digesting GOP rule and concluding that they have Had Enough?

  • It’s truly odd that after all the things Bush and his friends have “accomplished” the last five years – the war, the deficit, the corrruption, the secrecy, the illegality, the unConstitutionality, the lies, the cronyism, the Orwellianism – the issue that appears to be the tipping point with the public is GAS PRICES.

    The Dems better have a plan ready to lower those friggin’ prices in the event they take back the House or Senate.

  • Tom Cleaver (#8),

    Thanks for the heads up. That’s really intriguing and useful info. Much more telling, imho, than polls. Sort of like the curator’s method for determining the popularity of pieces of work in a museum display — check the amount wear on the flooring.

  • Funny- am a freelance journalist working here in Asia; I notice the numbers of polls often make people jump one way or another on issues.
    Since my Dad was one of the first pollsters for the Gallup group here in Asia and since a followed in is footsteps in a way getting a masters in political science. and have been reporting on SE Asian and US politics for many years.
    I cant but look at the US numbers and then check on the numbers of all the current crop of leaders in the world.
    Most have really horrible ratings. Could this be global trend of some kind- of a general feeling of distrust and a anti-leader culture that seems to have come up in recent years.? Nearly all of them are suffering levels at the same or close to Bush’s numbers.
    Sometimes I wonder if its economic reasons, but then looking at figures for across the globe growth in most sectors is booming. Could it be the high price of gasoline? The war? or all of the above?
    Or maybe a general feeling in this world of blogs, cell phone, text messaging, instant messaging, video calling, and, the internet that people want instant solutions to problems, and they want them now in real time?
    I often wonder if patience is gone from most societies for programs and ideas to take root and grow or do people have such a low tolerance for government that they move on to change their opinions faster and want instant gratification so much they can’t see that no mater who leads. It is often the technocrats, bureaucrats, and, government functionaries’ and structure that needs changing in this instant world.
    I think no mater who is in power unless the overall procedures are not changed- then people will constantly want to fire the President when ever things go wrong.
    Rather making needed changes to the systems which ironically are there to keep leaders in place with checks and balances..
    just a thought…

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