The Daily Background
| Poll: Attitudes towards President Bush Hardening
by Arlen Parsa
The number of Americans who “strongly disapprove,” versus merely “disapprove” of the President and his policies is growing. WaPo’s Froomkin notes:
Lamont’s out-of-nowhere victory, fueled by his depiction of incumbent Joseph Lieberman as a presidential patsy, suggests a political awakening of that sizeable group of Americans who intensely disapprove of Bush, his war in Iraq, and pretty much anything else he touches.
Consider that, according to the latest Washington Post poll , a near-majority of Americans — 46 percent — strongly disapprove of the job Bush is doing. That’s strongly. Another 12 percent somewhat disapprove.
On Iraq, which is the dominant political issue going into the 2006 election, 62 percent disapprove of Bush’s leadership (52 percent strongly).
This is good news. More Americans are realizing that the President is not just “dumb” or “incompetent” as the late night shows portray him, but that he is actually a bad President.
This is a significant change, because opinions are finally hardening (as they always do in President’s second terms). Especially significant that this shift is nakedly occurring in the context of a midterm election-year. It bodes well for us.
