WP: Numbers, History Bode Ill For Bush

Approval Rating Is Lowest of His Term

Friday, May 14, 2004; Page A01

Six months before the November election, President Bush has slipped into a politically fragile position that has put his reelection at risk, with the public clearly disaffected by his handling of the two biggest issues facing the country: Iraq and the economy.

Bush continues to run a close race against Sen. John F. Kerry (D-Mass.) in national polls, and his reelection committee has spent prodigiously to put Kerry on the defensive in the opening phase of the campaign, with some success. But other indicators -- presidential approval being the most significant -- suggest Bush is weaker now than at any point in his presidency.

Bush's approval rating in the Gallup poll fell to 46 percent this week -- the lowest in his presidency by that organization's measures. Fifty-one percent said they disapprove -- the first time in his presidency that a bare majority registered disapproval of the way Bush is doing his job. A Pew Research Center survey released Wednesday pegged Bush's approval at 44 percent, with 48 percent disapproving.

In contrast, Bill Clinton and Ronald Reagan, who were reelected easily, had approval ratings in the mid-50s at this point in their reelection campaigns and remained at or above those levels into November. But Bush's father, George H.W. Bush, and Jimmy Carter had fallen to about 40 percent in their approval ratings at this point in their races and, after continuing to fall even further, lost their reelection bids. Bush roughly mirrors the standing of Gerald R. Ford in mid-1976; Ford lost his campaign for a second term.

more…
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A25367-2004May13.html

or rather the Hague

or wherever it is the Commissioner of Baseball keeps his office. It's a position made to order for a sociopath like Shrub: largely cermonial, lots of faux adulation, the occasional opportunity to act like a dictator. . . yeah, that's where Shrub will end up.

We cannot rest on our heals...

Please keep working....please....

Don't let up...talk to your neighbors....

Talk to the guy pumping gas next to you...

Let them know that Bush is not the answer....

Tell them the truth....

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I posted this yesterday (more good news):

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4962832 /

Challenger's acceptance lags incumbent's disapproval:

" Kohut of the Pew center pointed out in his Times piece that the lack of a direct correlation between an incumbent’s decline in the polls and a challenger’s ascent was “the same … in the 1980 race. President Jimmy Carter's favorable rating in the Gallup surveys sank from 56 percent in January to 38 percent in June, yet he still led Ronald Reagan in Gallup's horse-race measures. For much of the rest of the campaign, voters who disapproved of Mr. Carter couldn't decide whether Mr. Reagan was an acceptable alternative.”

“Similarly,” Kohut wrote, “in May 1992 President George H. W. Bush had only a 37 percent approval rating according to a Times Mirror Center survey, but the same poll showed him with a modest lead, 46 percent to 43 percent, over Bill Clinton. Only the Democratic convention and the debates brought about an acceptance of Mr. Clinton.” "

"Given the volatility of events, the amount of time before Election Day and hurdles Kerry must overcome, Bush has plenty of time to recover."

Guess what the number one "hurdle" Kerry must overcome? The bias of the U.S. media!

They should have just said, "Given the fact that we in the media plan to bash him relentlessly while defending the great and honest and likeable George W. Bush, Kerry is going to be lucky if we don't find a way to destroy him by November."