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Politics : Al Gore vs George Bush: the moderate's perspective -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Mephisto who wrote (9654)	2/27/2001 6:19:11 PM
From: Mephisto	Respond to of 10042

Will "W" Pardon Bill Gates and Microsoft?

To: Mephisto who wrote (9654)	3/2/2001 4:09:34 PM
From: Slugger	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 10042

I think one thing is for certain. Mr. Bush doesn't inspire confidence in US consumers. The latest Gallop Poll says you are wrong: Instant Reaction: Speech Viewers Give Bush High Marks by David W. Moore GALLUP NEWS SERVICE PRINCETON, NJ -- A CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll, conducted immediately after President George W. Bush's speech Tuesday evening, shows that most viewers reacted very positively to the speech, believe that the president is leading the country in the right direction, feel confident in his abilities to carry out his duties as president, generally support the proposals he outlined and specifically support his tax cuts. Viewers also give strong endorsement to the proposals he presented for dealing with Social Security. On the other hand, only about a fifth of viewers indicate that the tax cuts should be a top priority for the Bush administration, and most expect that Bush's tax cut proposal would cause their taxes to go down a little rather than a lot. The poll was conducted among 399 viewers who had been called February 25-26 and indicated that they would be watching the speech. The poll shows that partisans of the president were more likely to watch than those of a different party orientation, as about half of the sample -- 49% -- consisted of Republicans, 23% independents, and 28% Democrats. In 1999, when Gallup conducted a similar one-night poll of Americans who watched President Clinton's state of the union speech, the partisanship of viewers was also skewed toward the president, although not quite as strongly. Overall, 40% of the viewers that year were Democrats, 32% independent, and 25% Republican. On Tuesday evening, more than nine viewers in 10 -- 92% -- said they felt positive about Bush's speech, with 66% saying "very" positive. In 1999, the positive reaction to Clinton was somewhat lower, as 83% expressed positive feelings, with 56% saying "very" positive. Even before his speech, most viewers on Tuesday evening gave high marks to Bush, but after the speech the ratings were even higher. More than eight in 10 viewers -- 84% -- said he was leading the country in the right direction, up from 73% who said that in the two days before the speech, and 86% said they felt either very or somewhat confident in his abilities to carry out his duties as president -- up from 81% who said the same before the speech. In 1994 and 1995, Clinton received similar ratings on moving the country in the right direction after he finished his speech, although his pre-speech ratings were lower than Bush's. The poll also shows that like the American public in general, few viewers indicate that the tax cuts should be a top priority for the Bush administration. Overall, 22% said it should be a top priority, and another 61% a high priority. Last January, a poll of the general public showed 26% of Americans saying federal tax cuts should be a top priority and 39% a high priority, but that ranked the issue 13th out of 14 issues mentioned in the poll. One reason for the relatively low priority of the issue may be that few viewers expect to benefit greatly from the program. Overall, 13% said they expected their taxes would go down a lot, while 69% said a little, and 15% said not at all. Reactions to Bush's speech and proposals were clearly partisan, although even majorities of Democrats gave positive ratings to the president after his speech on most of the items. Democrats and independents were more likely to be swayed by what Bush said during the presentation than were Republicans, who already gave overwhelmingly support to the president and his proposals. Before the speech, for example, Democratic viewers opposed Bush's tax cuts by 59% to 28%, but after the speech they were evenly divided -- with 49% in favor and 48% opposed. By comparison, before the speech, independents supported the tax cuts by 68% to 26%, and afterward the margin increased to 78% to 21%. Among Republicans, support for the tax cuts increased only slightly because there was little room for movement -- from a margin of 90% to 5% before the speech to 95% to 3% afterward. There was virtually no change, however, in the priority rating given to the tax cuts by each of the partisan groups.