{"id":5572,"date":"2005-10-19T09:48:49","date_gmt":"2005-10-19T13:48:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com\/?p=5572"},"modified":"2005-10-19T09:48:49","modified_gmt":"2005-10-19T13:48:49","slug":"utah-notwithstanding-the-bottom-is-falling-out-for-bush","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/utah-notwithstanding-the-bottom-is-falling-out-for-bush\/","title":{"rendered":"Utah notwithstanding, the bottom is falling out for Bush"},"content":{"rendered":"

A new national SurveyUSA poll<\/a> has Bush’s overall approval rating at 38%, making it the fifth national poll released in the last week or so showing Bush’s support below 40% (following along the same lines as Gallup<\/a>, NBC<\/a>, AP<\/a>, and CBS<\/a>).<\/p>\n

SurveyUSA, however, as it is wont to do, breaks down the numbers state-by-state<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The top five<\/b>:<\/p>\n

Utah — 61% approve, 36% disapprove
\nIdaho — 55% approve, 44% disapprove
\nWyoming — 54% approve, 44% disapprove
\nAlaska — 52% approve, 44% disapprove
\nNebraska — 52% approve, 45% disapprove<\/p>\n

The bottom five<\/b>:<\/p>\n

Massachusetts — 28% approve, 68% disapprove
\nVermont — 29% approve, 69% disapprove
\nRhode Island — 29% approve, 70% disapprove
\nNew York — 30% approve, 66% disapprove
\nIllinois and Connecticut (tied) — 32% approve, 66% disapprove<\/p>\n

One interesting angle to this poll, however, is that the top five, instead of just being Bush’s strongest states, are practically the only states where Bush remains strong at all. In May, Bush was above 50% in 13 states. By September, that number had fallen to 10 states. In this poll, as Kos noted<\/a>, Bush is above 50% in only six states (Alaska, Idaho, Oklahoma, Nebraska, Utah, and Wyoming).<\/p>\n

Moreover, Bush has consistently relied on the South to bolster his national numbers. But if you define the South as the 11 states of the old confederacy, Bush’s approval rating now tops the 50% mark in zero<\/b> southern states.
\n
\nA reader recently asked me why I frequently do posts about these polls. With Bush no longer running for anything, he said, it doesn’t really matter.<\/p>\n

To be sure, this has some merit, and the polls aren’t nearly as interesting as they were during the campaign. But I do these posts for a few reasons: 1) It’s a morale booster; 2) Bush’s sinking popularity has a ripple effect for Republicans nationwide and the president’s agenda on the Hill; 3) I think it’s helpful to remind Bush critics everywhere that they’re not alone; and 4) I just find the polls entertaining.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A new national SurveyUSA poll has Bush’s overall approval rating at 38%, making it the fifth national poll released in the last week or so showing Bush’s support below 40% (following along the same lines as Gallup, NBC, AP, and CBS). SurveyUSA, however, as it is wont to do, breaks down the numbers state-by-state. The […]<\/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-5572","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5572","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=5572"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5572\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5572"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5572"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5572"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}