Worst. President. Ever. [UPDATE: 2% of African Americans approve of Bush's Presidency]
Wed Oct 12, 2005 at 05:18:37 PM PDT
Bush's numbers are
stuck in the mud.
The [NBC News/Wall Street Journal] poll shows that Bush's approval rating stands at 39 percent, a new low for the president. In the last NBC/Wall Street Journal survey, which was released in mid-September, 40 percent approved of Bush's job performance while 55 percent disapproved. In addition, just 28 percent believe the country is headed in the right direction, another all-time low in Bush's presidency.
Indeed...
"Any way you slice this data, I think these are just terrible sets of numbers," said Democratic pollster Peter D. Hart, who conducted this survey with Republican pollster Bill McInturff.
It appears Bush's ratings have hit rock bottom and none of his usual shtick is digging him out. He's now made 8 make-up visits to the Gulf Coast, ostensibly as repentance for the few days of vacation he refused to relinquish at the time of the Katrina catastrophe. He's made two "major" speeches, one in New Orleans and the other on Iraq. John Roberts is now Chief Justice, and he's appointed Harriet Miers for Sandra Day O'Connor's seat.
[UPDATE: From Tim Russert's presentation of the poll numbers on NBC Nightly News and not found on msnbc.com]
Russert reports that only 2 percent, yes, two percent, of African Americans approve of the President's handling of his job.
Russert also reports that the 9 percent advantage for Democrats on the question of who should control Congress in 2006 is the largest spread in the favor of one party in ten years. And ten years ago? That was the last time the Democrats had control of Congress before they were swept out by the GOP.
[Back to original post...]
Miers appears to be part of the problem...
The Miers nomination, however, has disappointed some of the president's conservative supporters, because they say she lacks judicial experience and a clear conservative record on social issues. According to the poll, 29 percent say she's qualified to serve on the Supreme Court, while 24 percent think she's unqualified. Forty-six percent say they don't know enough about her.
There's some even better news emerging from the poll...
On Delay and Frist:
The poll also finds that strong majorities don't believe that the recent charges against GOP leaders Tom DeLay of Texas and Bill Frist of Tennessee are politically motivated. Sixty-five percent say that DeLay's indictment on charges of illegally using corporate contributions for political campaigns suggests potential illegal activity, while 24 percent say the indictment is politics as usual and has little merit... 57 percent say Frist's sale of stock in a company his family runs -- just before the value of the stock declined -- indicates potential illegal activity, compared with 28 percent who say the charge has little merit.
On a Democratically-controlled Congress...
In addition, with 13 months until the 2006 congressional elections, 48 percent say they prefer a Democratic-controlled Congress, compared with 39 percent who want the Republicans to control Capitol Hill. In fact, that nine-point difference is the largest margin between the parties in the 11 years the NBC/Journal poll has been tracking this question.
Not to rejoice in other people's pain, but it's about time that the American people saw the Republicans for who and what they are. Is this the beginning of the downfall of the Republican Party for the next several years? Have their excesses finally come back to slay the beast? Is it too late?
Permalink | 34 comments