November 03, 2005
Bush's Lowest Still Better Than All Others in Recent History
To listen to the way it is spun in the Washington Post and crowd on the left, you'd think that President Bush's "all time low" job approval rating was the end of the world:
On virtually every key measure of presidential character and performance, the new survey found that Bush has never been less popular with the American people. Currently 39 percent approve of the job he is doing as president, while 60 percent disapprove of his performance in office -- the highest level of disapproval ever recorded for Bush in Post-ABC polls.
But if you look closely, these numbers are just for Bush in his own two terms, not for Presidents in general. How does he compare overall?
According to a 10/17 USA Today article, he compares pretty well:
Every president since 1963 has had approval ratings at one time or another that were lower than Bush's current rating. Those ratings include Lyndon Johnson's 35%, Richard Nixon's 24%, Gerald Ford's 37%, Jimmy Carter's 28%, Ronald Reagan's 35%, the elder George Bush's 29% and Bill Clinton's 37%.
Bush's worst to date is still several points better that the next best in President Clinton, and substantially better than all other presidents of the past four decades. Perhaps naysayers shouldn't crow so loudly when Bush is still at the top of the heap.
Update: As Tom Elia of the New Editor shows, Bush's "lowest" polling is the result of skewed polling across several polls.
For example, the CBS News poll, which shows that Bush's approval rating is at 35%, reports that an unweighted sample shows that 34.8% of its respondents self-identified as Democrats, while 27.6% said they were Republicans. While the unweighted sample yielded a seven-point differential favoring the Dems, a weighted sample had the spread at 11% points in favor of the Dems. This represents at least a 10-11 point swing in the electorate since the 2004 election (and perhaps as much as 14 points), when Bush won by about three points and the Repubs won the aggregate House vote by about four points.The AP/Ipsos poll, which has Bush's approval rating at 37%, said its respondents self-identified 49% Dem and 40% Repub, yielding a nine-point differential favoring the Dems. This represents a 12-point swing in the electorate since 2004...
The ABC/Washington Post poll, which shows that Bush's approval rating is at 39%, saw its respondents break down thusly: 52% said they leaned toward the Dems, and 41% leaned toward the Repubs. That represents a 14-point swing since last year's elections.
Go read the rest.
Lies. Damn lies. Statistics.
Update 2: I should have titled this thread "You Can't Trust the Poll-ish."
You actually have the audacity to claim that there have been presidents who had lower approval ratings than Chimpy McBushitlerburton? And then you cite "facts" to back up the claim???
You, sir, are obviously NOT doing your part to take back the country from the Amerikkkan Taliban!
/moonbatmode
So, you're arguing that George Bush is doing 1% better than Clinton was when the GOP impeached Clinton? The right wing looking to Clinton for legitimacy with respect to WMDs AND approval ratings???
Gotta go . . . I think I just heard the 4th horse of the apocalypse ride in.
Posted by: Mr. Gnockers at November 4, 2005 01:50 AMClearly, this topic began by showing how shamelessly partisan the Washington Post's spin was regarding Bush's approval ratings, considering how USA Today had a more informed (how ironic), balanced perspective of the numbers.
Comparisons to Clinton are not necessary to have legitmacy, though one cannot help the simple pleasures of obliterating the record of the former media darling by showing how the current idiot (in the left's and media's minds) president one-ups Clinton at every turn. Quite enjoyable indeed.
Considering the constant braying of the left and the ceaseless obsession of the left-of-center mainstream media to make mundane operations of the administration into the next Watergate (the tangible disappointment in their not "getting" Rove is hillarious, the equivalent of a middle finger and a smile), it's a wonder Bush's ratings aren't lower.
Thankfully, elections cannot be undone, even if the arbitrary approval rating is zero. So give it up already, lefties. We're in power. Deal with it.
Posted by: Atticus_NC at November 4, 2005 06:25 AMYou nailed it. I've been covering the CBS Poll on my blog. At first glance, the results didn't seem right, but then newsbuster.org and RCP broke it down and exposed it for the crap that it was. What I don't get is why the networks release these skewed polls, when it is so easy for even an average person to find the bias in them. I guess they just don't want to let the facts get in the way of a potentially damaging poll.
Posted by: Barry at November 4, 2005 07:04 AMI noted the same thing.
I think Bush has had a bad summer and it shows, but not this much.
The left wants to make it as bad as they can in the hopes that the Republicans will be lose public support before the 2006 election.
It is not hard to figure out.
I am sure the president has his own polls and considering the emphasis on immigration and spending cuts we have seen lately..together with the Alito nomination it would seem he is trying to shore up his base. So it is not hard to surmise he is seeing a softening there.
But the glee with which the left responds to the numbers gives some indication as to why the polls might be slanted in the first place.
What other explanation is there for the fact that out of all of these polls Democrats outnumber Republicans in each and every one?
Posted by: Terrye at November 4, 2005 03:45 PMGo Bushy , GO !
I never believe the propaganda of the mass media anyway. Especially the New York Slimes.
Democrats live in an alternate reality maintained by the Poll-ish and media rags that pose as news sources.
Case in point: The Plame Game.
Husband gets sent to Niger ( Joe Wilson)
Why didn't the CIA send one of its 1000 trained agents ?
Simple, there's a bunch of Ivy League edumacated
liberals within the CIA who want to corall and shape presidential policy by giving the president spun or altered intelligence.
British and Israeli intelligence is more accurate. This is what the Plame game is about.
The president needs to clean up the CIA. Rove and Libby were doing their jobs well, launching their own counter intel op against a much of
Dim wing-nuts who work for the CIA.
Plame never was "outed", she had not been a covery agents since the late 1990's.
Its all a scam. Any most people actually belive that propaganda?
So Polls on the president? Take 'em all with a grain of salt. The caterwalling of the Dems is their last gasp. Dems either come up with better ideas or prepare to lose the next 3 Presidential elections!
Posted by: Candor Seven at November 4, 2005 06:40 PMI heard on one of the networks that the poll results were obtained by polling 37 Republican and 63 dim-wits. They then used an unknown factor to remove two of the Republican responses. (maybe they spelled all the words correct) At first I said that CBS and the AP wouldn't do such a stupid thing. The more I thought about it the more I realized that this is exactly what CBS and the AP would do. 99% of their news (sic) has either been wrong, slanted, or total lies for the past few years. Anyone wonder why none of the Former MSM outlets make it into my home. I watch a total of 30 minutes of major network news per day, and that is the local news, and then I have to dis-regard anything they say "according to or provided by the AP" CNN is blocked from all televisions in the house.
Posted by: scrapiron at November 4, 2005 09:32 PMHe he there is a poll put on by the Democrtic Party itself that they are VERY quiet about and for good reason.
Democrats' own mood poll scares them
Jun. 29, 2005 at 10:48AM
A poll on the political mood in the United States conducted by the Democratic Party has alarmed the party at its own loss of popularity.
Conducted by the party-affiliated Democracy Corps, the poll indicated 43 percent of voters favored the Republican Party, while 38 percent had positive feelings about Democrats.
"Republicans weakened in this poll ... but it shows Democrats weakening more," said Stanley Greenberg, who served as President Clinton's pollster
http://www.angelfire.com/ky/kentuckydan/CommitteesofCorrespondence/index.blog?from=20051007
Posted by: Dan Kauffman at November 5, 2005 01:19 AM
