Post-plot polls

August 14, 2006

The general Republican reaction to the thwarted terrorist plot in Britain last week was relief, not just because the hijackers were apprehended, but also because it was a story that could be exploited for partisan gain. Or so they thought.

A new CBS poll, conducted between Friday and Sunday, suggests the disrupted plot may not be the political boon the GOP had hoped for.

The arrests in Britain have not helped President Bush’s popularity so far, the CBS poll finds. His job approval remains exactly at 36 percent, where it was a month ago. Even the president’s rating for handling terrorism — his strongest suit — remains unchanged at 51 percent.

The same poll also found that the war in Iraq remains the number one problem facing the country, and Americans are still none-too-pleased about its progress.

A Newsweek poll published over the weekend was slightly different, but hardly encouraging for conservatives.

According to the poll, conducted through phone interviews with 1,001 Americans, 55 percent disapprove of how the president is doing his job, while 38 percent approve, an increase of 3 points since the May 11-12 NEWSWEEK Poll. But a majority, 55 percent, approve of Bush’s handling of terrorism and homeland security (40 percent disapprove), an 11-point boost since May, returning the president to levels not seen since early 2005….

[I]f reminders of the war on terror give the Republicans a political boost, little else seems to. And even that advantage is fading. For instance, 44 percent of Americans say they trust the GOP to do a better job handling the war on terrorism than the Democrats, versus 39 percent who say they trust the Democrats more, a five-point lead for the GOP. But before the last midterm elections in 2002 the Republicans held a 23-point lead over the Democrats, according to the Oct. 24-25 NEWSWEEK Poll that year.

Of course, with 13 weeks before the midterms, there’s plenty of time for the Republicans to increase that lead. But terrorism is the only issue they have going for them, according to the poll. Right now 53 percent of Americans would like to see the Democrats win control of Congress, compared to just 34 percent who want the Republicans to retain control. Most worrisome for the GOP? Almost one in 10 Republicans, 9 percent, hope the Democrats win.

The thwarted plot, coupled by the media buying into the GOP spin on the Lieberman defeat in Connecticut, was supposed to produce big short-term gains for Republicans in national polls. They didn’t. The GOP is still in the same tough spot it was a week ago.

Good news, CG. After hearing the same scare story over and over again, the public is no longer scared. They’ve already withdrawn the color code again. The only thing the GOP had to offer was Fear and Trembling (to steal a title from Kierkegaard – hey, Bush can do Camus, can’t he?). Now even that won’t work.

  • “The arrests in Britain have not helped President Bush’s popularity *SO* *FAR*, the CBS poll finds.” (emphasis added)

    Shorter CBS: We won’t do “push polls” but we’ll sure do “push stories” – Go, Bush, go!

  • ONLY TERRORISTS IN THESE UNITED STATES SEEMS TO BE THE REPUBLICANS!

    EEEEEEEK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  • It would be interesting to see the results, were a select few of the MSM “journalists” to put a “reverse-spin” on this. What would happen, for example, if a news story started floating around that the events in London were a prima-facie example of why the Republicans are losing the war on terror? Imagine a primetime journalist or two suggesting that the course-of-action promoted by Kerry and the Dems in 2004 is exactly what a British police department used to catch these guys, while all the super-double-secret-posturing, law-breaking, privacy-violating, and rights-suspending of the Bush administration and the GOP has netted—what?

  • … I bet the real story of the plot will end up being that the tour-er-ists intended to mix two highly-combustible gases- hydrogen and oxygen…

  • This is a sign that the American public is finally waking up from the post 9-11 fear induced haze that has allowed Bu$h and his neocon handlers to subvert just about every ideal that we as Americans stand for. There is light at the end of the tunnel I think; and although it may be too early to tell, I don’t think its a train.

  • Terror overdose
    Iraq bombings, Lebanon Conflict, The London Plot, Iran Nukes.. all competing for our fearful attention.
    But the worst terror of all… Bush is back from vacation and active in world affairs.

  • This morning on NPR (Now Playing Republican), Cokie Roberts gave her best “This will help the Republicans” mantra.
    She cited the NewsWeek poll, neglected to mention the timing aspect/controversy, and was her usual Republican’t hack

    Republican’ts – can’t keep us safe, can’t run a proper police investigation, can’t be trusted.

  • “Even the president’s rating for handling terrorism — his strongest suit — remains unchanged at 51 percent.”

    Pathetic. Dem’s must convince the public that his handling of terrorism is a sham before the next attack slips through the net.

  • beep,

    I’m afraid the only way that will happen is, God forbid, we have another attack on US soil.
    The fact that there hasn’t been an attack here since 9/11 has led to the spin that something must be working to keep the terrorists at bay.

  • After three and a half years of war, 2,600 soldiers killed, somewhere near 20,000 wounded, billions of dollars spent … and we stil get horrific terror plots waged against us and now we can’t even sip a bottle of water on the plane to visit grandma. This war on terror is’t working and I think the public is finally getting it.

    Bush is not savng us from the terrors of the Middle East, he is making us the Middle East where terror and attacks will become a permanent pasrt of lives rather than a very rare occurance.

  • Iraq is a catastrophic foreign policy debacle. Bush idiocy, his inestimable incompetence, has alienated us from our allies and generated hatred among Muslims across the world. He has weakened our military, forcing our troops into an extended occupation in the midst of a growing civil war for which they have neither appetite nor training. He has created a recruiting boon for al-Qaida. He has sorely weakened our foreign policy influence, as demonstrated graphically in the current conflict in Lebanon. He has cost nearly 2,700 American lives, over 20,000 Americans wounded — and an estimated 150,000 Iraqi deaths. He has compromised our budget priorities, spending about $400 billion on this ill advised war already — with the estimated cost likely to exceed $1 trillion. The budget is a statement of our moral choices — and this is a deeply immoral choice. You cannot resurrect a proverbial dead conservative elephant by beating it. Hell, can we cut and run from this Bush idiocy?

  • “..The fact that there hasn’t been an attack here since 9/11 has led to the spin that something must be working to keep the terrorists at bay. ..” — 2Manchu

    On the other hand, the more time passes without an attack the less important the handling of terrorism becomes as a political card. A convincingly foiled threat was their best hope — if only it hadn’t been someone else who foiled it.

    “.. After three and a half years of war, 2,600 soldiers killed, somewhere near 20,000 wounded, ..” — petorado

    And the 150,000+ Iraqis killed since 2003 by the evil hand of a tyrant?

    (You’ve got the point in before me, K-Man, but I’ll post anyway for backup)

  • With all the crap we read about terrorism and Bush’s ability to handle the problem, how come the universe seems to have forgotten that 9/11 occurred “While Georgie Boy was Pres.” Have we forgotten that he sat in the classroom, frozen reading the children’s book for many minutes before even reacting?
    Why Kerry did not show that clip over and over again during the election I will never understand.
    Not to Mention Bin-Laden determined to attack in US memo.
    Why is it that Democrats have not been making speeches every day since 9/11 reminding America of These Facts?
    If Newt Gingrich was still in the congress (Either in the majority or minority) and this happened during a Democratic Presidential Administration, he and his friends would be up every night screaming bloody murder on the floor of the house.

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