Bush Approval Falls After Iraq Abuses, Pew Poll Says (44%)

[UpInArms]

http://quote.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000103&sid=afqg7VuvbvYs&refer=us

May 12 (Bloomberg) -- President George W. Bush's job approval rating fell to 44 percent, a 4-point drop, following revelations that U.S. soldiers abused Iraqi prisoners, a poll by the Pew Center for the People and the Press shows.

The percentage of Americans who think the nation is headed in the right direction is at 33 percent, an eight- year low, and 61 percent said they are dissatisfied with how things are going, according to the Pew survey. In an election match-up, Democratic presidential candidate and four-term Massachusetts Senator John Kerry leads the president by 50 percent to 45 percent.

`It is a close race, and at this stage it is all about feelings about the incumbent, and Bush has been hurt by recent events in Iraq,'' Carroll Doherty, editor of the Pew poll, said. ``Until there is some good news in terms of organizing a government, or the casualty count goes down, this thing is going to be a major problem for the president.''

...more...

[Beetwasher]

1. Yeah, Bush is in Serious Trouble

and I'm loving every minute of it!

[4_Legs_Good]

10. Great news, but things CAN'T stay this bad until November...

... and I don't want them to.

I expect that this is definitely good news overall, and I still predict a 38% approval rating by the begining of June, but he'll bounce back a bit. I think Kerry (and all of us) still has lots of work to do, and I do believe that come October there will be at least the appearance of things looking much better than they are now. We can't count on Bush hanging himself.

Oooh baby, though 44%, that is sweet, sweet candy!

Shall we place bets on the bottom approval. I'm saying 38%. Anything below that would mean losing die-hards.

33% in the right direction though. WOW!!

david

[Mountainman]

14. I say 33%, that's always the cool aide contingent

The freeper dittoheads and those who think they'll get another tax break. The top one percent in wealth and the bottom 32% in IQ.

[TruthIsAll]

18. He won't fall to 38% by June. At his current rate, it will be Sept.

He is at 46-47% (average) and is falling 2%/month over the last 4 months.

1-Nwk 2-Fox 3-CNN 4-Pew 5-Harris 6-CBS 7-ABC 8-Time 9-NBC 10-AP 11-Zogby
ymm 1...2...3...4...5...6..7..8..9..10.11...AVG
102 52 55 57 53 na 53 55 52 na na 57 54.25
103 55 56 63 56 56 53 58 55 57 na 53 56.20
104 57 63 59 53 49 60 63 na 56 na 52 56.89
105 57 59 53 50 59 56 55 52 na na 52 54.78
106 na 59 55 51 50 57 na na 50 na 51 53.29
107 na 56 52 52 56 53 59 55 na na 47 53.75
108 na 55 51 50 52 50 55 na na na 50 51.86
109 86 81 87 80 na na 86 84 82 na 82 83.50 <Trifecta
110 84 80 na 84 88 89 92 89 na na 78 85.50
111 85 84 87 84 86 87 89 87 88 na na 86.33
112 82 86 86 na 82 85 89 82 85 na 81 84.22
201 na 83 84 80 79 86 86 77 82 77 80 81.40
202 83 81 82 78 79 84 83 na na na 74 80.50
203 74 80 81 na 77 82 82 75 na 75 74 77.78
204 71 79 76 74 75 78 79 75 74 72 69 74.73
205 73 72 77 na 74 76 78 72 75 71 70 73.80
206 70 74 70 70 70 71 77 70 69 na 69 71.00
207 68 70 76 67 62 70 72 70 67 67 62 68.27
208 61 69 68 60 63 65 69 na na 65 na 65.00
209 70 66 66 63 68 66 69 65 64 65 na 66.20
210 61 65 67 na 64 66 67 61 63 63 63 64.00
211 60 68 63 61 65 63 67 64 na na na 63.88
212 na 65 64 61 64 61 66 55 na 64 64 62.67
301 56 63 63 58 na 65 59 53 62 64 na 60.33
302 61 57 61 54 52 59 64 62 54 58 63 58.64
303 53 60 57 55 na 56 62 54 61 57 62 57.70
304 71 71 70 67 70 68 71 62 62 51 54 65.18 <Iraq invasion
305 65 65 69 65 na 67 71 63 71 64 61 66.10
306 61 66 64 60 61 67 68 na 62 na 58 63.00
307 55 60 62 58 na 66 59 55 na 60 53 58.67
308 53 59 60 56 57 60 59 na 56 58 52 57.00
309 52 58 52 55 na 55 56 52 na 52 45 53.00
310 51 52 55 50 59 52 54 na 49 51 49 52.20
311 52 52 54 50 na 54 56 52 51 52 48 52.10
312 54 52 63 57 50 60 59 54 58 59 53 56.27 < Saddam capture
401 50 58 60 56 na 50 58 54 54 56 49 54.50
402 48 48 51 48 51 50 50 54 na 47 na 49.67 < Kerry wins
403 48 48 49 46 na 51 50 na 50 48 46 48.44 < Clark testifies
404 49 49 52 43 na 49 51 49 na 48 47 48.56
405 na 49 46 44 na 46 na 47 na na na 46.40 < TortureGate

[4_Legs_Good]

21. Great chart!

I'm predicting 38% by June because of the torture and the right-wing media reaction to it. I don't think that more than 38% of people can see that sh*t and think it's "just a few good ol' boys having fun".

We'll see, but the second I heard the cr@p Rush was spewing about this stuff I felt certain people would be jumping off the wagon...

david

[progressiveBadger]

2. It is sad though

that it took making the entire world hate us and fear us to get us to this point.

[goclark]

3. Diebold

will probably be hired to count the casualties in Iraq.

I don't put anything beyond the dirty tricks of these Sopranos.
When we finally get Rubthug out of the Pentagon he will probably be hired as CEO of Diebold.

[bluestateguy]

4. Boo Yah!!!

If these numbers keep up (the approval rating) then all JFK has to do is keep it a dead heat until November and he will win comfortably. Recall that this was the case in 1980 (see below). That was a close race for several months, but President Carter's approval numbers were very low. Reagan schooled him in the debate and the undecideds broke heavily for Reagan.

[lancdem]

6. And notice that Reagan didn't pull ahead until June

Kerry is ahead of Reagan's pace in 1980 and Clinton's in 1992.

[lancdem]

5. This is the second straight poll showing Bush plummeting

because of the abuse scandal. It looks like it took about a week before the effect was felt.

[w4rma]

7. Bush has done nothing but drop in the polls, with 3 exceptions.

9.11, the invasion of Iraq and Saddam's capture.

[jobycom]

8. So that explains all the media griping about Kerry

See, they tried to hurt Kerry on his military record, but he stuffed that back on them. So now they are trying to keep him down in the polls by that "He's not doing anything" stuff. If they can turn his base on him, then they don't have to convince those middle voters to prefer Bush, especially since they are turning on Bush.

Not claiming DUers are doing that, just that the press is. That's part of the reason you can look up a dozen speeches Kerry makes on issues and on Iraq, but you never hear them talked about in the media.

[Domitan]

9. Excellent news

However, the tinnish cynical side of me wonders if the kingmakers are finding Bush more expendable and are now pushing him and his company closer to the edge.

[aquart]

11. 33 percent, huh?

What does that mean for Congress?

[llmart]

12. After the beheading incident....

it will plummet even further.

[4_Legs_Good]

13. Really? I hate to see this type of stuff politicized, but...

... I had been figuring it would play more *for* Bush than against him.

"These guys are barbarians! Screw the little degredations we've done to their people! They deserve it"

kinda crap.

Yuck yuck yuck

david

[DoktorGreg]

15. Why would it play for Bush???

Its just another needless killing, symbolic of this war. The war started with a failed decapitation attempt, here are the people of Iraq responding in kind.

It is just one more indicator that an elective unnecessary war, will haunt America for a long time. Any resolution at this point, puts a Saddamish regime back in power.

It appears to me the situation is spiraling out of control. That cant possibly be good for Bush, even if you approved of this war.

[4_Legs_Good]

22. I think it plays for the US vs. THEM crowd

I just thought it would take all the negatives that are coming from the torture pictures and reflect them back on the Iraqis, remembering that most people don't draw distinctions between terrorists, PoWs and Muslim men in general.

People may say "in light of the decapitation, what our soldiers did was NOTHING!"

All that said, I agree 100% with your premise! I think this argument is absurd and I think that the decaptiation shows just stupid this whole thing has been, but I don't know that that's how others will see it.

I hope you're right.

david

[Rebellious Republican]

17. Actually, the family of Berg are blaming the Government!

That should hurt Bush.......

Nick's father, Michael, blamed the US government for that detention and his son's death.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/3709489.stm

[4_Legs_Good]

23. Good point

I feel so sorry for them having to deal with this, but I really respect them for not going the easy route and just getting pissed at anyone with brown skin.

Gawd, what a mess.

david

[Nicholas_J]

16. Kerry's lead

Is growing larger from poll to poll.

[DrBB]

19. "This fantastically popular president!"

Anybody heard any of the whores say that recently? Even Judy?

No?

Amazing how long they kept it up though.

[StPatrick]

20. It's Kerry's to lose

I just don't get it. How can anyone still support Mr. Bush? Though his ratings are going down, it's difficult to understand why it's still so close. Anyone who's listened to Mr. Kerry must know that he is just so much more experienced in foreign policy affairs and would do a much better job on domestic issues. He'd certainly also do a better job at getting back to economic sanity in Washington.

[crossroads]

24. Hard to believe they can find 44% that will admit

they *still* support Bush!
:crazy:

[yellowcanine]

25. Too late for * to fire Rummy

Now it will look as if he is doing it because of the plunging poll numbers - which would be the reason, anyway. So if he fires him now it pisses off the wingnuts because of the disloyalty and he drops even faster. Rummy could still resign on his own and he probably will but it will still look as if * pushed him out. I love the smell of plunging pubbie poll numbers in the morning!