{"id":5302,"date":"2005-09-20T10:34:24","date_gmt":"2005-09-20T14:34:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com\/?p=5302"},"modified":"2005-09-20T10:34:24","modified_gmt":"2005-09-20T14:34:24","slug":"the-jackson-square-speech-didnt-help","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/the-jackson-square-speech-didnt-help\/","title":{"rendered":"The Jackson Square speech didn’t help"},"content":{"rendered":"

U.S. News reported<\/a> this week that the White House isn’t “expecting big changes in Bush’s poll numbers soon.” They had relatively high hopes for the reaction to last week’s speech<\/a> in New Orleans, but it was, in the words of one former Bush aide, a “tourniquet.”<\/p>\n

Except it wasn’t even that. Since the speech was delivered, several polls have been conducted. If there’s any good news for the Bush gang in them, it’s hiding very well. SurveyUSA, for example, found that the number of Americans who approve of Bush’s response to Hurricane Katrina dropped<\/a> immediately after the speech, to just 40%. Rasmussen Reports found a similar trend<\/a> over the same period of time.<\/p>\n

But to truly appreciate Bush’s predicament, consider the latest CNN\/USA Today\/Gallup poll<\/a> — an outlet that has usually given the White House stronger results than other polls.<\/p>\n

President Bush’s vow to rebuild the Gulf Coast did little to help his standing with the public, only 40 percent of whom now approve of his performance in office, according to a CNN\/USA Today\/Gallup poll released Monday.<\/p>\n

Just 41 percent of the 818 adults polled between Friday and Monday said they approved of Bush’s handling of the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, while 57 percent disapproved.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Point by point, issue by issue, the public is rejecting every aspect<\/a> of Bush’s presidency.
\n
\n* Approval Rating<\/i> — Bush is down to just 40% support according to Gallup, with a whopping 58% disapproval rating, the worst of his presidency.<\/p>\n

* Iraq<\/i> — Support for Bush’s handling of the war in Iraq has dropped to stunning lows, with 32% in support and 67% disapproving. A record high of 59% say they now consider the war a mistake. 63% want some or all U.S. troops withdrawn from Iraq.<\/p>\n

* Foreign Affairs<\/i> — Support for Bush’s foreign policy in general has also reached unseen lows. Just 38% support the president on foreign affairs, while 58% disapprove.<\/p>\n

* Economy<\/i> — Just 35% of respondents approve of Bush’s handling of the economy, easily the lowest of his presidency.<\/p>\n

* Personal Qualities<\/i> — Bush has dropped below the 50% threshold in being a “strong and decisive leader,” “honest and trustworthy,” and Americans seeing him as someone who cares about people like themselves.<\/p>\n

* Katrina<\/i> — Support for Bush’s handling of the disaster fell after his New Orleans speech to 41%. What’s more, given a series of funding options, Bush’s stated choice (domestic spending cuts) came in a distant last among Americans, garnering only 6% support. The support for a Democratic proposal to independently investigate the government response was overwhelming (81%), while only 18% support the GOP plan of a congressional investigation.<\/p>\n

In a nutshell, Americans just aren’t buying what Bush is selling. When someone like the Wall Street Journal’s James Taranto say the president’s poll numbers are “bouncing back<\/a>,” he’s just embarrassing himself.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

U.S. News reported this week that the White House isn’t “expecting big changes in Bush’s poll numbers soon.” They had relatively high hopes for the reaction to last week’s speech in New Orleans, but it was, in the words of one former Bush aide, a “tourniquet.” Except it wasn’t even that. Since the speech was […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[617],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5302","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5302","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5302"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5302\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5302"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5302"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5302"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}