‘When he loses likeability, the president loses the benefit of the doubt’

May 20, 2006

Earlier this week, [tag]Karl Rove[/tag] insisted that [tag]Bush[/tag]’s [tag]likeability[/tag], his [tag]personal[/tag] [tag]approval ratings[/tag], were in the 60s in some polls. He explained that the American people “like him, they respect him, he’s somebody they feel a connection with.”

[tag]Knight Ridder[/tag] — under a headline that reads, “Americans [tag]don’t like[/tag] [tag]President[/tag] Bush [tag]personally[/tag] much anymore, either” — sets the record straight.

It’s not just the way he’s doing his job. Americans apparently don’t like President Bush personally much anymore, either.

A drop in his personal popularity, as measured by several public polls, has shadowed the decline in Bush’s job-approval ratings and weakened his political armor when he and his party need it most.

Losing that political protection – dubbed “Teflon” when Ronald Reagan had it – is costing Bush what the late political scientist Richard Neustadt called the “leeway” to survive hard times and maintain his grip on the nation’s agenda. Without it, Bush is a more tempting target for political enemies. And members of his party in Congress are less inclined to stand with him.

“When he loses likeability, the president loses the benefit of the doubt,” said Dennis Goldford, a political scientist at Drake University in Iowa. “That makes it much harder for him to steer.”

That last point is particularly important. Reviewing Bush’s low national support is more than just a parlor game or a punch line; the numbers reflect the president’s ability to govern effectively. Or, in this case, not.

Reagan, for example, enjoyed a personal bond with Americans that helped him when the country went through a wrenching recession and when his administration was rocked by the Iran-Contra scandal.

“It protected him,” said Sherry Bebitch Jeffe, a political scientist at the University of Southern California.

“Look at where Bush is today. You could argue that, even though his job approval rating was low, if he had a significantly higher personal approval rating, congressional Republicans would not have strayed as far from him.”

Some news outlets seem anxious to write the “Bush comeback” story for some reason. Kudos to Knight Ridder for reporting the obvious.

The old saying familiarity breeds contempt never rang truer.

  • A bounce for President Bush? CNN must be kidding. After the last two weeks of decline on the stock markets, anyone looking at their 401(k) or IRA account would be saying “WTF”! If the economic trends of high energy prices and higher interest rates continue, the only bounce that I foresee is lots of Republicans being “bounced” from Congress.

  • As someone who has always thought Bush was a nightmare I cringe to think that half of this country was duped into electing this guy twice. I think it is strong evidence showing how much control the corporations and the media have over our country and politicians. There is no integrity in journalism anymore. Just a bunch of hacks sucking money from the corporations to be ass kissers.

  • It’s the lies. He’s been caught in so many lies that only a fool would grant him the benefit of the doubt.

  • Shruby doesn’t give a damn whether folks like him or not at this point. He still commandeers Air Force One. He still get’s to ride in the Border Patrol dune buggy. He still get’s to direct the attention of the media to himself speaking from the Oval Office like a condesending kindergarten teacher to his vacant classroom filled only with imagined seekers of The Decider’s wisdom and knowledge.

    If he doesn’t get impeached, he’s in it until the end even if his polls hit .5% and like every other overrated and over compenstated, quarter assed CEO, he’s oblivious to everybody except those who put him in the position and who determine his compensation package. Shruby see’s the Exxon guy who walked out with a half billion dollar retirement package as his peer and an example of what the top guy should get.

    The 70% of “unsettled” proles shooting their pathetic little arrows up at his throne just need to get over it. He’s way up there. They are way down there. Some get to be up high. Some have to stay down low. That’s just the way the world works and Shruby has just always been lucky that way.

  • Karl says the “‘American people like this president’.” His assertion is based on “a private poll done for the Republican National Committee”, a copy of which the RNC declined to provide.

    On the other hand, Pew does a lot of polling, and they provide copies (03.15.06):

    “Currently, 48% use a negative word to describe Bush compared with just 28% who use a positive term, and 10% who use neutral language.

    The single word most frequently associated with George W. Bush today is ‘incompetent,’and close behind are two other increasingly mentioned descriptors: ‘idiot’ and ‘liar.'”

    Bush Approval Falls to 33%, Congress Earns Rare Praise

    Incompentent, lying idiot? And Karl thinks Americans like this guy.

    Pretty funny, huh.

  • If it hadn’t been for Osama bin Laden and 9/11, Bush would probably have hit the low 30s in his first term and been booted out in 04, maybe not even renominated.

    No wonder he doesn’t want to kill the guy, Bin Laden saved Bush for a second term.

  • Earlier this week, Karl Rove insisted that Bush’s likability, his personal approval ratings, were in the 60s in some polls. He explained that the American people “like him, they respect him, he’s somebody they feel a connection with.”

    I don’t think Karl is lying to himself about this, but I do think he’s lying to W, who famously yells at aids that bring him bad news. Karl may even be lying to W. in order to keep his spirits up, because an optimistic rug may not be enough now.

  • I like the analysis that people no longer give Bush the benefit. But while it seems true about immigration, for some reason the American public are still believing him about domestic spying, even though he lied to their face in the 2004 election.

    Sadly, he still has more support than he deserves. Of course, that has always been the case of the Republicanites, or at least from the time of Ronald Reagan, where their promises greatly exceeded their achievements.

  • Actually, Bush has lots of bounce still left in him. It’s just that the White House pollsters keep lowering the ceiling on those polls—and Bush bounces off the ceiling. When one bounces from the top, the direction of the bounce is usually downward….

  • “A drop in his personal popularity, as measured by several public polls, has shadowed the decline in Bush’s job-approval ratings and weakened his political armor when he and his party need it most.”

    To put a Star Trek flavor to it:

    “Enemy shields are weakening, Captain. Down to 33%.”

    “Very good, Mr. Worf. Open a hailing frequency, No. 1. This is the captain of the U.S.S. Constitution. Your ship is breaking up. Surrender and we will beam aboard your crew.”

    “No response, sir. Wait, their captain is saying everything is fine, they don’t require any assistance.”

    “I was afraid of that, No. 1. They’ve completely succumbed to the dreaded space madness. We can’t allow it to spread to the rest of the galaxy. Mr. Worf, prepare a full spread of photon torpedoes, maximum setting.”

    “Aye, sir. Torpedoes armed and ready.”

    “And set proximity fuses for November, Mr. Worf. Their shields will be totally exhausted by then.”

  • I never could see what people found like-able in this “cowboy” who’s afraid of horses, who swaggers like a baby with a full load in its diaper, who seems to enjoy “pretend” games (“mission accomplished”), who can’t ride a $5000 bicycle or the Segway schooter without falling off, who goes into a rage when confronted with an idea he doesn’t care for, who was so dislike-able his own family didn’t think of him as a successor to Poppy, who goes from an extreme drunk and drug abuser to an equally extreme so-called Christian and exerciser, who made a wreck of every business he ever inherited, whose military “career” is a string of AWOLs and lies about them, etc.

    I’m glad Knight-Ridder is finally wise to him. Wonder how long it’ll take the rest of the “journalistic” establishment to get there.

  • I agree with Ed. I never could see what was likable about the guy. He is grossly incompetnet and has been since the election of 2000 when he said in the middle of the Florida dispute “I got the Job’ with this stupid smirk on his face. What a moron! He doesn’t care what he does to this country, from bankrupting us to sending our kids to a disasterous and unnecessary war.

    Millions of Americans and populations worldwide protested the idea of invading Iraq, and the Pope, and the American Catholic bishops, as well as the World Council of churches begged him not to do such a thing. He referred to all of those millions as a “focus Group.” He is arrogant, misinformed and dumb as dirt. I and millions like me will never like the man. There is no upward bounce for him.

  • Some of us never found Codpiece-the-phony likable in the first place. Some of us never believed he could govern, and weren’t surprised when he filled his administration with orcs. Some of us paid attention to his long history of failure and his abysmal record as governor of Texas, except when it came to condemning people to death. Some of us are not particularly surprised at his actions since becoming president, but have been surprised at the shameful rubber-stamp Congress and the terrible, fat-and-happy apathy of the people. Though it’s probably far too late, some of us are glad that the rest of us are finally, finally, noticing all of the above.

  • I’m with 13, 14 and 15. God, I’ve never been able to stomach anything about thisman. He’s destroying our country and he’s got years left. Pray for Dems with balls (are there any?) to get elected and investigate. All there is now is the promise of a criminal trial.

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