"52 percent say Bush's presidency a failure"
WASHINGTON, Jan. 31 (UPI) -- More than half of the people asked in a recent poll said the term of U.S. President George W. Bush has been a failure.
During his State of the Union address, Bush needs to be convincing about his plans for Iraq, the economy, healthcare, immigration and corruption while staying the course on terrorism, The Gallup Organization said of its phone survey of 1,006 U.S. adults. The 52 percent who consider Bush's presidency a failure contrasts to the more than 80 percent approval rating former President Bill Clinton received in January 1999 despite already being impeached by the U.S. House of Representatives.
The high-octane economy of the late 1990s was the main reason Clinton weathered the impeachment process so well, analysts said.
Bush still has relative strength in the areas of terrorism, caring and honesty, the poll concludes."
The number is going to increase in the next 3 years, God help us!
"Poll: Just 25% want Bush directing national policy
RAW STORY Published: January 31, 2006
President Bush delivers tonight's State of the Union to a voting public more willing to give control of national policy to an unpopular Congress than him, according to a Wall Street Journal/NBC poll.
Excerpts from the Wall Street Journal follow:
A new Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll shows health care at the top of Americans' priority list, with 76% calling increased access and lower costs "an absolute priority" for 2006 (Did you hear that, Dems?). Two-thirds say it is time to reduce troop levels in Iraq, while just 28% support maintaining existing troop levels ( What do you plan to do about this, Dems?).
Asked who should take the lead in settling national policy, just 25% say Mr. Bush, while 49% prefer Congress to take charge
Pretty damn sad when Americans want Congress to be in charge of the country and not the incumbent King.
"Nearly half of Iraqis support attacks on U.S. troops, poll finds"
BY DREW BROWN Knight Ridder Newspapers
WASHINGTON - A new poll found that nearly half of Iraqis approve of attacks on U.S.-led forces, and most favor setting a timetable for American troops to leave. The poll also found that 80 percent of Iraqis think the United States plans to maintain permanent bases in the country even if the newly elected Iraqi government asks American forces to leave. Researchers found a link between support for attacks and the belief among Iraqis that the United States intends to keep a permanent military presence in the country.
At the same time, the poll found that many Iraqis think that some outside military forces are required to keep Iraq stable until the new government can field adequate security forces on its own. Only 39 percent of Iraqis surveyed thought that Iraqi police and army forces were strong enough to deal with the security challenges on their own, while 59 percent thought Iraq still needed the help of military forces from other countries.
Seventy percent of Iraqis favor setting a timetable for U.S. forces to withdraw, with half of those favoring a withdrawal within six months and the other half favoring a withdrawal over two years.
"Iraqis are demanding a timetable for U.S. withdrawal, and most believe that the U.S. has no plans to leave even if the new government asks them to," said Steven Kull, the director of the Program on International Policy Attitudes at the University of Maryland, which conducted the poll. "This appears to be leading some to even support attacks on U.S.-led troops, even though many feel they also continue to need the presence of U.S. troops awhile longer."
"If you put it all together, it's clear there is a center of gravity, not towards immediate withdrawal, but for the U.S. to be there in a way that affirms their intent to withdraw eventually," he said. "There is real consensus on that point."
The poll was to be published Tuesday by WorldPublicOpinion.org, a Web site that reports on public opinion from around the globe. The survey was conducted Jan. 2-5, with a nationwide sample of 1,150 Iraqis from country's main religious and ethnic sects.
http://www.mercurynews.com/...
Wonder if King George read that poll? Wait! What was I thinking. King George doesn't care about polls.
"Bush scaling down his agenda"
The president's State of the Union address Tuesday night is an occasion to woo back voters, unveil low-risk initiatives.
By Linda Feldmann | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor
WASHINGTON - Of all the audiences George W. Bush faces Tuesday night in his fifth annual State of the Union message - Congress, the American people, the world - perhaps the most important will be independent voters. It is mainly they who left the president's side last year, telling pollsters in growing numbers that they did not support the job he was doing or feel the nation was heading in the right direction. Now those numbers appear stuck well below 50 percent, after a slight uptick last month.
"History is replete with examples of midterm elections that were pleasant interludes perhaps, but didn't tell us much about the future, and others that were harbingers of the future," says John Kenneth White, a political scientist at Catholic University. "I'm inclined to think we might have a harbinger here."
ROTFLMOA!!!
We may have lost the battle today. But we haven't lost the war!
Stay pissed and work hard to get dems elected in 2006!