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On 21 Nov 2003 16:05:32 GMT, (Bobsprit) wrote:

Mark off another net full of murders for President Death, George
Bush. The horrible attacks in Turkey are yet another result of
Bush" political savy.

Meanwhile, popularity for Bush continues to dwindle. No worry.
What are the chances that Bush can even spell "dwindle?"

RB

In fact, the low point was a couple months ago, and the current
approval rating trend is up. I just saw a graph of it in another
news story a few days ago--not this one. Bush's follows the normal
presidential four-year cycle.

See:
http://washingtontimes.com/national/...3522-3889r.htm

Bush job-approval typical of third year
By James G. Lakely
THE WASHINGTON TIMES

President Bush's latest job-approval ratings are mixed, but still
place him close to the positions shared by the last four presidents
at this point in their first term.

A USA Today-CNN-Gallup poll released yesterday showed that 50
percent approve of the job Mr. Bush is doing as president and 47
percent disapprove, both numbers matching the worst showing for him
in each category in the Gallup Poll since he entered office. The
poll was conducted Nov. 14-16, among 1,004 adults.

However, a poll conducted by ABC News and The Washington Post put
Mr. Bush's approval rating at 57 percent yesterday.

The ABC News poll has never measured Mr. Bush's job approval at
lower than 53 percent, which is greater than the lowest
job-approval rating of the preceding four presidents. President
Clinton's lowest rating was 43 percent, the first President Bush's
lowest was 33 percent, President Reagan never dipped below 42
percent, and President Carter bottomed out at 28 percent.

Steven Hess, a presidential scholar at the Brookings Institution,
said a job-approval rating in the 50s at this point in a
presidential term is a good sign for an incumbent.

"He's pretty much stabilized and it's at about the low 50s, and
that's a pretty good sign for getting re-elected," Mr. Hess said.
"The poll ratings will probably jump up or down on what the morning
headlines are when the poll is taken, but by and large, the good
economic news will drive his ratings up."

The U.S. Department of Commerce announced Oct. 30 that the nation's
gross domestic product grew at 7.2 percent from July through
September, the greatest one-quarter jump in economic growth in 19
years. But the president's job-approval rating, according to
Gallup, has still declined six points in four weeks.

Frank Newport, editor in chief of the Gallup Poll, said Mr. Bush's
"general trajectory [this year] has been down" since Iraqi dictator
Saddam Hussein was overthrown in the spring.

"That produced what we call a rally effect, putting his approval
rating at 71 percent," Mr. Newport said. "He stabilized in
September and has been in the same range since."

Mr. Newport cautioned against reading too much into one week of
polling, saying one can't judge the depth of the public's opinion
of a president until trends are revealed over several weeks.

"We'll see if it goes down farther than this," Mr. Newport said.
"Bush hasn't continued to go down as long and as fast as his father
did, at least not at the moment."

Allan Lichtman, presidential scholar and historian at American
University, said Mr. Bush's approval numbers have been linked to
the public's confidence in "his ability to battle evil worldwide."
That confidence has been "shaken" by almost daily troop deaths in
Iraq, he said.

"Bush is coming down to more normal numbers, as you'd expect," Mr.
Lichtman said. "[Iraq] is now a source of doubt for the American
people."

If the economy continues to improve, however, Mr. Bush will see his
numbers rise and it will be tough for any of the Democratic
candidates for president to beat him in 2004.

"They can weaken him on foreign policy, but only the economy will
make him vulnerable to one of these Democrats," Mr. Lichtman said.

Mr. Bush's average approval rating in the Gallup poll is 66.2
percent. Only President Kennedy's 70 percent career job-approval
rating was higher than Mr. Bush's.

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tw


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