Thread: Bush's Support Tumbles in Polls

From the New York Slimes. Notice that immigration is not mentioned. Log on to newyorktimes.com and look at the entire poll. They ask questions about virtually every subject, but immigration. Wonder why? Oh, they did ask if you consider yourself an evangelical Christian or not. Wonder why?
This newspaper, along with the L.A. Slimes, and a few others, are as great a threat to our country as any foreign enemy. They distort, subvert, and attack anything that is pro-American. America got better treatment in Pravda! - Scarecrow.


Bush's Support on Major Issues Tumbles in Poll

By ROBIN TONER and MARJORIE CONNELLY
Published: June 17, 2005

Increasingly pessimistic about Iraq and skeptical about President Bush's plan for Social Security, Americans are in a season of political discontent, giving Mr. Bush one of the lowest approval ratings of his presidency and even lower marks to Congress, according to the New York Times/CBS News Poll.

Forty-two percent of the people responding to the poll said they approved of the way Mr. Bush was handling his job, a marked decline from his 51 percent rating after of the November election, when he embarked on an ambitious second term agenda led by the overhaul of Social Security. Sixteen months before the midterm elections, Congress fared even worse in the survey, with the approval of just 33 percent of the respondents, and 19 percent saying Congress shared their priorities.

Despite months of presidential effort, the nationwide poll found the public is not rallying toward Mr. Bush's vision of a new Social Security that would allow younger workers to put part of their payroll taxes into private investment accounts. Two-thirds said they were uneasy about Mr. Bush's ability to make sound decisions on Social Security. Only 25 percent said they approved of the way Mr. Bush was handling Social Security, down slightly from what the poll found in March.

Moreover, 45 percent said the more they heard about the Bush plan, the less they liked it. The survey also found the public shared the growing skepticism in Washington about Mr. Bush's prospects for success on Social Security, with most saying they did not think Mr. Bush would succeed.

Still, Mr. Bush continued to have majority support for his handling of the war on terrorism - 52 percent - one of his strengths throughout his 2004 re-election campaign.

Mr. Bush's approval rating is below the historical pattern for June in the first year of a second term: President Clinton's stood at 60 percent and President Reagan's at 59 percent. But that could reflect, in part, the much greater partisan polarization in modern politics, underscored by the 71 percentage point gap between Mr. Bush's approval rating from Democrats and Republicans in the recent poll. Nicolle Devenish, White House communications director, dismissed the significance of the poll, saying Mr. Bush believes that following polls is equivalent to a dog chasing its tail. "We have advanced a broad agenda, and will continue to advocate the people's priorities," she said.


On Iraq, months of continued turmoil, insurgent attacks and casualties appear to have taken a further toll on public attitudes. Looking back, 51 percent said they thought the United States should have stayed out of Iraq, while 45 percent said military action was the right thing to do. That reflects only a slight erosion from findings by CBS News throughout the spring, but a marked turnaround from 2004, when pluralities tended to think it was still the right thing to do.

Moreover, only 37 percent said they approved of Mr. Bush's handling of the situation in Iraq, down from 45 percent in February. A strong majority of Americans now say the effort by the United States to bring stability and order to Iraq is going badly - 60 percent, up from 47 percent in February.

The latest poll was conducted by telephone June 10 through Wednesday with 1,111 adults and has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus three percentage points.

In general, the survey found Americans in a darker mood. In one key measure, only 33 percent said they thought the country was on the right track, while 61 percent said it had gone off in the wrong direction. Similar results were found by CBS News in April and May, but that measure of national optimism was markedly better last November. There was little change in the way Americans rate the current condition of the American economy - 54 percent say it is very or fairly good. But the number of Americans who say the economy is getting worse is growing, to 36 percent from 30 percent in February.

When asked an open-ended question about the most important problems facing the nation, Americans cited the economy and jobs, war and terrorism at the top of the list. Social Security, which has consumed an enormous amount of political energy this spring, did not make the top six, suggesting voters have a different view of political priorities than the Republican-controlled Congress and the White House.

The public's view of Congress dropped sharply earlier this year, and has hovered at unusually low levels since March, according to CBS News Polls.

Do you have the contact info or a link for the one who wrote the article of Bush's approval ratings? I would really like to write to that person and educate him/her on what I think is the real reason for Jorge's approval ratings dropping. See if you can give a link to this story please.

Here is the link to the article...

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/17/politics/17poll.html

Here's what I wrote:

Response to article concerning Bush's Support on Major Issues Tumbles in Poll:

I wanted to respond in kind to an article published today by Robin Toner and Marjorie Connelly concerning Bush's support on major issues tumbling in the polls. While I agree that President Bush is a horrible president to say the least and there are many major issues that President Bush has failed miserably on that are affecting his rapidly declining approval ratings, but the one major issue you failed to address which is one of the biggest reasons why Bush's approval ratings are hitting rock bottom is without a shadow of a doubt immigration. I know for a fact that many Americans on both sides of the political spectrum are irritated with Bush's refusal to secure our borders and enforce the current immigration laws that exist. His refusal to do these things have put this country not only at risk of another terrorist attack, but also at risk of violence from dangerous immigrant gangs such as MS-13 and various sorts of foreign criminals, some of which are involved in very powerful Latin American drug cartels. I also know for a fact that American citizens are sick and tired of having to shell out billions of tax dollars per year to provide education, health care and various sorts of welfare benefits to illegal immigrants who have no legal right to be in this country. It's a known fact that illegal aliens steal jobs from more deserving American citizens and legal immigrants and deeply depressing working wages.

80 percent of Americans have time and time again seriously demanding that the Bush administration and Congress act to close our borders and enforce our immigration laws not only to protect our country from terrorists, but to stop the onslaught of illegal aliens flooding our borders. Bush's approval ratings decline shows that people are sick and tired of a president and congress that are out of step with what the American people want done for their country. I truly believe to be fact that if our borders were to be secured and our immigration laws were seriously enforced that it would drastically reduce crime in our streets, the national deficit, government spending and it would provide job opportunities and economic relief to those Americans on the unemployment line which would in turn reduce lower class Americans dependence on welfare. It would also protect our country from another 9-11. It would probably help rise the quality of education our children receive due to a decline in overcrowding our classrooms.

I would be interested in knowing why a prestigious newspaper such as the NY Times didn't even bother to mention immigration being one of the major issues that is contributing to Bush's approval ratings decline. Immigration is becoming the hottest political issue of our time and sooner or later it's going to cost some politicians on both sides to lose their jobs in DC. Shame on you guys for not reporting the news truthfully as a whole. You guys in the media are suppose to be fair, balanced and unbiased and when you don't bother to cover an important issue such as this, it makes people like me tend to believe that the NY Times has a hidden political agenda and are afraid to tell the public what's really happening in our country.

Dman wrote:

I would be interested in knowing why a prestigious newspaper such as the NY Times didn't even bother to mention immigration being one of the major issues that is contributing to Bush's approval ratings decline. Immigration is becoming the hottest political issue of our time and sooner or later it's going to cost some politicians on both sides to lose their jobs in DC. Shame on you guys for not reporting the news truthfully as a whole. You guys in the media are suppose to be fair, balanced and unbiased and when you don't bother to cover an important issue such as this, it makes people like me tend to believe that the NY Times has a hidden political agenda and are afraid to tell the public what's really happening in our country.

Dman, you told it straight. Only problem I see is asking the NY Times to be fair, balanced and unbiased, is like asking a zebra to change his stripes!

They are left wing and rotten to the very core.

Originally Posted by Scarecrow

Dman wrote:

I would be interested in knowing why a prestigious newspaper such as the NY Times didn't even bother to mention immigration being one of the major issues that is contributing to Bush's approval ratings decline. Immigration is becoming the hottest political issue of our time and sooner or later it's going to cost some politicians on both sides to lose their jobs in DC. Shame on you guys for not reporting the news truthfully as a whole. You guys in the media are suppose to be fair, balanced and unbiased and when you don't bother to cover an important issue such as this, it makes people like me tend to believe that the NY Times has a hidden political agenda and are afraid to tell the public what's really happening in our country.

Dman, you told it straight. Only problem I see is asking the NY Times to be fair, balanced and unbiased, is like asking a zebra to change his stripes!

They are left wing and rotten to the very core.

I know. But we can all hope someday right?

Yeah, maybe they will be sold some day and a reasonable owner will fire all the left wing loonies and hire some honest journalists (hopefully there are a few left).

it makes people like me tend to believe that the NY Times has a hidden political agenda and are afraid to tell the public what's really happening in our country.

You bet your life they have a hidden political agenda....great letter dman1200.