Wall Street Journal/NBC & New York Times/CBS polls show America has second-term blues, right from the start.
President Bush begins his second term in office today with a U.S. public wary about the next four years and generally unsupportive of his policy intentions, two new surveys suggest.
Fewer than half of Americans express optimism about the rest of the president's time in office "or substantial confidence that Mr. Bush has the right policies for the presidency," a Wall Street Journal/NBC poll says. It finds just one pivotal area where Mr. Bush's public standing has risen -- his ability to handle a crisis -- and the Journal calls that the "strongest asset he brings to the political course he has charted" since 9/11.
A New York Times/CBS poll finds more widespread optimism among respondents -- nearly 60% -- but says nearly two-thirds believe Mr. Bush's second term will produce a larger U.S. budget deficit and 47% expect it to divide Americans. A majority of those surveyed said they didn't expect improvements in health care or education. Mr. Bush's approval rating was at just 49%, and 56% said the country was on the wrong track. The findings "suggest that Mr. Bush does not have broad popular support as he embarks on what the White House has signaled would be an extraordinarily ambitious second term," the Times says. And that could undermine his leverage in Congress.
My friend Joann posted a comment to my 01-18-05 post that discussed the Washington Post/ABC News poll on the same topics, her comment noting that she would never trust a poll again. I found the poll data in that poll very credible, and finding credible is not to say I agreed with what it reported.
However, I am having a difficult time buying into the following finding from the New York Times/CBS poll (again, not agreeing or disagreeing, just accepting the report as accurate):
'The poll found that 43 percent of respondents expect most forms of abortion to be illegal by the time Mr. Bush leaves the White House, given Mr. Bush's expected appointments to the Supreme Court.'
43 percent is huge thinking abortion will be -- not just restricted -- illegal.
(wsj.)
Fewer than half of Americans express optimism about the rest of the president's time in office "or substantial confidence that Mr. Bush has the right policies for the presidency," a Wall Street Journal/NBC poll says. It finds just one pivotal area where Mr. Bush's public standing has risen -- his ability to handle a crisis -- and the Journal calls that the "strongest asset he brings to the political course he has charted" since 9/11.
A New York Times/CBS poll finds more widespread optimism among respondents -- nearly 60% -- but says nearly two-thirds believe Mr. Bush's second term will produce a larger U.S. budget deficit and 47% expect it to divide Americans. A majority of those surveyed said they didn't expect improvements in health care or education. Mr. Bush's approval rating was at just 49%, and 56% said the country was on the wrong track. The findings "suggest that Mr. Bush does not have broad popular support as he embarks on what the White House has signaled would be an extraordinarily ambitious second term," the Times says. And that could undermine his leverage in Congress.
My friend Joann posted a comment to my 01-18-05 post that discussed the Washington Post/ABC News poll on the same topics, her comment noting that she would never trust a poll again. I found the poll data in that poll very credible, and finding credible is not to say I agreed with what it reported.
However, I am having a difficult time buying into the following finding from the New York Times/CBS poll (again, not agreeing or disagreeing, just accepting the report as accurate):
'The poll found that 43 percent of respondents expect most forms of abortion to be illegal by the time Mr. Bush leaves the White House, given Mr. Bush's expected appointments to the Supreme Court.'
43 percent is huge thinking abortion will be -- not just restricted -- illegal.
(wsj.)
posted by Sid Cottingham | 6:02 AM
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