Thread: Poll: Fewer Americans think Bush is honest

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Poll: Fewer Americans think Bush is honest
By WILL LESTER, Associated Press Writer
Published 11:36 pm PDT Thursday, August 4, 2005

WASHINGTON (AP) - Less than half of Americans now say they think President Bush is honest, according to an AP-Ipsos poll taken at a time of increasing concerns about Iraq, a potential problem for a president who won re-election declaring that "people know where I stand."
The percentage of people who say they consider Bush honest has dropped slightly from the start of the year. In January, 53 percent described him that way in the AP-Ipsos poll, while 45 percent said they did not believe he was honest. Now, people are just about evenly split - 48 percent saying he's honest and 50 percent saying he's not.

"Whether you agree or disagree with him, the president has taken a pounding on perceptions of his honesty," said Karlyn Bowman, a public opinion analyst at the American Enterprise Institute. She cited as one example the administration's claims that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction, but none have been found.

A solid majority still see Bush as likable and a strong leader, but a growing number view the president's confidence as arrogance, up from 49 percent in January to 56 percent now.

"He pushes and pushes and pushes until he gets his own way," said Diane Maley, a politically independent registered nurse from East Greenbush, N.Y. "I don't think he has the best interest of the country in mind."

For some people, especially Republicans, Bush is personally appealing.

"He's a man of character," said Cheryl Cheyney, a school bus driver from Cumming, Ga., and a Republican. "He's very honest in the things he says. I agree with his belief system, the way he believes in God and is not afraid to show it. That's very important to me."

Bush's overall job approval was at 42 percent, with 55 percent disapproving. That's about where his approval rating has been all summer but slightly lower than it was when the year began. His approval on handling Iraq was at 38 percent.

Some who don't approve of Bush's job performance admire him personally.

"I think he tries to be likable and I think he's somewhat honest," said Cindy Bashura, a Democratic-leaning resident of Seymour, Conn. "He tries to do what he thinks is right, but sometimes I think he takes the wrong advice from people in his circle."

Continuing worries about Iraq may do more than drag down Bush's standing with the public. They could become a major issue in the 2006 midterm congressional races, and if the war is still going in 2008, they could be a factor in the presidential race.

The war in Iraq also could have an impact on more than elections.

"Bush's standing with the public is a factor in his ongoing effort to influence legislation and to sustain support for his Iraq policy," said Bruce Buchanan, a professor of political science at the University of Texas. "The honesty dip is partly caused by a loss of faith in his credibility on Iraq."

The poll of 1,000 adults was conducted Aug. 1-3 by Ipsos, an international polling firm. It has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.

yeah and recent polls show that the American people also don't trust congress.

Of course he's not honest! Neither are people like Jerry Faldwell or Pat Robertson! Some days I can't tell the televangelists from the politicians.

I LOVE that one, arizona!! How true. How true! They are all alike. Believe me, those Falwell and Pat Robertson types are just as dishonest as this administration if not more so. Why do you think they are so supportive of this President??

I will have to say that I've been in that group that distrusted him since August of 2002 when he stood outside at the ranch and started at hinting at going to Iraq. My distrust was further confirmed when he had Colin Powell up there at the UN with George Tenet sitting behind him showing us those pictures of trucks moving around in Iraq. I thought then that, if that was all they had on Saddam and his WMD's, we were heading down the slippery slope. And, from the look of things, we are THERE.

What we need is another Jefferson Davis.

Hi ArthurC. and Arizona! Bootsie, you are a good judge of character if you had him pegged back in 2002.

I actually did not vote for him in 2000, (couldn't stand him - reminded me of a little rich boy riding in on Daddy's coat tails, I sensed an arrogance I didn't like or trust.) BUT then came 9/11. Like so many people, I fell in line right behind him thinking, that I had been wrong and that I was glad that he had won the 2000 election.

Bootsie, Arizona, ArthurC., it is what I am observing in my community that has me really scared and worried now. The situation in our community is worsening almost daily, definitely weekly. For the first time I saw a Day Labor place today, something which I only thought existed in California and maybe North Carolina. If that is not enough, our neighbor (an American) is having trouble with her neighbor urinating in the backyard, and now that she asked him to stop, a gangish looking group has begun to visit the people. Think they're from Mexico, otherwise it's another Central American country. You guys, these developments are just from TODAY.

How in the world can I trust in George Bush? I would be out of my mind to trust in him now. I gave him my trust once. As a result of this serious, daily deterioration, I would be a fool to trust him again. (Excuse spelling errors - had a busy day at the school today).

Oh, Legal--IF I had only had enough foresight to see what this man was when I actually voted for him in 2000, MAYBE that one vote might have mattered! But, I thought Gore was even worse though, in retrospect, I can't think of ANYONE who could be MUCH worse. I learned my lesson by 2004 and I still contend that, if the Democrats could have run a half-way decent moderate that actually said the same thing on the same topic every time they spoke, Bush would have lost in 2004. Like you, after 9/11, I DID feel like maybe I was right in having voted for him in 2000 and I even thought that when we went to Afghanistan but, when he started hinting at Iraq and I looked at the PITIFUL evidence he was using to justify a war there, I had this awful sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach that we were headed for HUGE trouble.

Legal, you are also SO RIGHT about his ARROGANT manner. What a COCKY attitude that man has. He must have SOME SORT OF COMPLEX. At first, I thought it might be a Napoleonic complex but Bushie Boy isn't short. So, I can't exactly diagnose him but it's SOMETHING!!!

WE ARE CRUISIN' for a BRUISIN' as we used to say back in the old days!

I'm with you Boots. My God--just a few years ago I was lecturing the younger guys at work to give Bush a chance, to not judge him until you see him in action, blah blah blah. Then when the Iraq war started, I thought Bush must know something we don't regarding Hussein and nuclear or biological weapons.

Today, I believe our sneering, arrogant president does whatever the hell he feels like doing whether it breaks the law or not. This entire war, as it turns out, was based on either a lie OR innaccurate information, neither of which Bush has apologized for. I think the whole thing was a vengeance play over Saddam trying to kill his father years ago, and Bush just used the WMD thing as an excuse to go after him. I think he's setting up an infrastructure in IRaq which will ultimately put money in his pocket.

Same thing with the illegal immigration issue. I believe Bush and his cronies are setting up a scheme to drive most of the Mexican/CA Third World into this nation. THEN they can go into Mexico and Central America and start buying up land and property dirt cheap, while simultaneously getting slave labor for the businesses which remain here in the US. Once the integration of these countries happens, voila!! Bush and his pals will own a great chunk of this new "trade zone" and most people will be totally clueless that these things were even going on!

ABSOLUTELY RIGHT, BobC. You are SO RIGHT. The Iraq war WAS going to happen during Bush's administration come hell or high water. NOTHING was going to stop him. The WMD issue just fell in his lap as a reason/excuse to sell the American people on a war that was neither necessary nor "a piece of cake" as described by Wolfowitz and Company. It HAD to be to either avenge the murder attempt on his father OR to finish the job his father started but didn't finish. THERE WAS NO OTHER REASON and, SADLY, we are SO MUCH LESS SAFE than we were before we went to Iraq. It was bad enough that the radical Muslims hated us because we had a military presence in Saudi Arabia but, boy, if they NEEDED an excuse to hate us even more, we sure handed it to them on a silver platter by occupying Iraq.

Every time Bush gets up there and tell the American people that we are fighting the terrorists in Iraq instead of in American, I could just throw up. Until very recently, there were NO terrorists in Iraq. AND, even now, most of the insurgents are IRAQI'S who DO NOT WANT US in their country. WHY can't people SEE this?????? Sure, now we've opened up a country that is more terrorist friendly than even Afghanistan was. It has given a radical group of people even more ammunition against us--as if they NEEDED any more ammunition.

You are probably right about the economic benefits that Bush HOPED to get but, from the looks of things, he ain't going to get ANYTHING out of Iraq except for a long-lasting civil war. That country will NEVER be a democracy. There is just NO WAY and it is yet another bill of goods that this administration is selling the American people. Thank goodness, fewer and fewer are still believing them BUT a large group of people still buy into the lies that they are telling us.

WE ARE BEING SO SCREWED.

Bush sure does love those illegals!! Do you think he even cares about Americans? How much can one person cater to criminals......let alone condone their illegal acts.




Ressie
Will this nightmare ever end?