In case you thought last week’s poll results from Zogby were a fluke or the result of a bad sample, Newsweek published a poll today with almost identical data.
The latest Newsweek poll pegged Bush’s approval rating at 53%, down 18% from April, and the lowest since May 2001. Zogby, meanwhile, had Bush’s approval rating at 52%.
Even better, for the first time since Newsweek started polling on the question, support for Bush’s re-election has fallen behind opposition. The poll showed 49% do not want to see Bush re-elected, while 44% want to give him a second term. That’s an even larger margin than the Zogby poll, which had Bush’s re-election support at 48% opposed and 45% in favor.
While Bush still enjoys big leads over Democrats on fighting terrorism and foreign policy, Newsweek’s poll respondents favored Democrats on dealing with the economy, tax cuts, healthcare, education, social security, the environment and energy policy.
I guess all Democrats need now is a presidential candidate whom voters can trust on foreign affairs to complement their predisposition to trust Dems on domestic issues.
That being said, Election Day is a long ways off. Bush’s approval ratings over the next year and a half can, and probably will, fluctuate a lot in both directions. The latest numbers are, as they say, but a snapshot.
This is not to say these polls are unimportant. I think they are. These encouraging polls results do two things: First, they offer encouragement to Bush’s political opponents and critics, many of whom have felt disheartened by incomprehensible support Bush has enjoyed. When these activists see Bush’s poll numbers start to drop, it reminds them that Bush is not an invincible president and others are as frustrated with this administration as they are. The electorate is not, as Mugato said in Zoolander, “taking crazy pills.”
And second, it reminds reporters, who generally love polling data, that Bush’s once absurdly-high approval ratings have fallen. For the better part of a year, every article about Bush with even a vaguely political angle would refer to the president as “enormously popular.” With a bare-majority of the public willing to give Bush their support, these same journalists will now be tempted to say things like, “Bush, who is struggling in the polls…”