Bush and Congress get poor grades: Zogby poll
By John Whitesides
Reuters
Most U.S. voters remain deeply unhappy with President George W. Bush and Congress and give them negative marks for their handling of economic and foreign policy, according to a Reuters/Zogby poll released on Wednesday.
The poll found nearly two-thirds of Americans believe the country is on the wrong track and give Bush's job performance a bad grade. An even bigger majority of 83 percent say the Democratic-controlled Congress is only doing a fair or poor job.
"The American people are in a foul mood right now and there is no sign of improvement," said pollster John Zogby. "They may be going on vacation this month, but they are coming back to the same old thing."
The bleak assessment of Bush and Congress, similar to their ratings last month, could be a danger signal for both parties heading into the November 2008 election campaign.
"Americans could simply be in an anti-incumbent and anti-institutional mood," Zogby said. "Right now, nobody gets good marks."
The national survey of 1,020 likely voters, taken August 9 through August 11, found 67 percent ranked Bush's performance as fair or poor, with just 32 percent ranking it as excellent or good.
That is down slightly from the 34 percent who gave him positive marks last month, but still above his low rating of 30 percent in March amid continued chaos in Iraq and partisan gridlock in Washington.
The dismal ratings for Congress have worsened since Democrats won power in the 2006 elections. Fifteen percent rate the performance of Congress as excellent or good, worse than the 23 percent who gave the Republican-led Congress positive marks in its final days last October.
(Continued here.)
Reuters
Most U.S. voters remain deeply unhappy with President George W. Bush and Congress and give them negative marks for their handling of economic and foreign policy, according to a Reuters/Zogby poll released on Wednesday.
The poll found nearly two-thirds of Americans believe the country is on the wrong track and give Bush's job performance a bad grade. An even bigger majority of 83 percent say the Democratic-controlled Congress is only doing a fair or poor job.
"The American people are in a foul mood right now and there is no sign of improvement," said pollster John Zogby. "They may be going on vacation this month, but they are coming back to the same old thing."
The bleak assessment of Bush and Congress, similar to their ratings last month, could be a danger signal for both parties heading into the November 2008 election campaign.
"Americans could simply be in an anti-incumbent and anti-institutional mood," Zogby said. "Right now, nobody gets good marks."
The national survey of 1,020 likely voters, taken August 9 through August 11, found 67 percent ranked Bush's performance as fair or poor, with just 32 percent ranking it as excellent or good.
That is down slightly from the 34 percent who gave him positive marks last month, but still above his low rating of 30 percent in March amid continued chaos in Iraq and partisan gridlock in Washington.
The dismal ratings for Congress have worsened since Democrats won power in the 2006 elections. Fifteen percent rate the performance of Congress as excellent or good, worse than the 23 percent who gave the Republican-led Congress positive marks in its final days last October.
(Continued here.)
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1 Comments:
The latest polls indicate that Bush’s numbers are rising – largely due to Republicans returning to supporting him. Immigration is a dead issue. Michael O’Hanlon and Ken Pollack graded the Iraq situation as improving which got a lot of media attention while the media ignored Tony Cordesman assessment (who was on the same trip.)
I suspect that the television news media is part of the reason. Watch any major nightly newscast and the daily violence in Iraq does not get reported … thus out of sight, out of mind. The newspapers cover it, but you can skip over reading a story, but unless you change the channel, you will hear what they say. TV wants pictures to tell the story so weather always gets attention (including a bridge collapse) as does “breaking medical news” and “toy recalls”. They can do features that they control. Iraq is too bloody and unpredictable … and when you consider that 112 journalists and 40 support personnel have been killed, you can understand their reluctance.
Here’s my question : Why does network news provide a stock market segment in every broadcast? Telling me the Dow Jones moved so many points does not tell me a lot … yet every night there’s fifteen seconds devoted to that reporting. Why not take that time and state the number of coalition forces killed in Iraq and in Afghanistan ? KEYC-TV handled the Jacob Thompson tragedy in a sensitive manner, but the blast also killed three other soldiers plus an interpreter and injured 12 other soldiers. We are not getting all the news.
Congress’s numbers are down, but how is the question being asked. I think Congress is doing a poor job because the Republican Senate is stopping legislation. Conversely, there are some that think the Democratic proposals are wrong … so Congress’s numbers should be down. The real question is, if there was a re-vote today, would you change your vote from last November … my guess the answer would be that the Democrats would pick up even more seats.
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