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Politics : Politics for Pros- moderated -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: John Carragher who wrote (16028)	11/13/2003 11:14:30 AM
From: LindyBill	Respond to of 793672

NBC Poll: Bush stops the bleeding By Alex Johnson, MSNBC President Bush's approval ratings are taking a turn for the better, boosted by a recovering economy that has driven unemployment claims to the lowest point of his presidency, according to the latest NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll. THE POLL of 1,003 adults by Hart/Teeter Associates of Washington found Bush's overall job approval rating at 51 percent. That was essentially unchanged from the same poll in September, indicating that the White House is succeeding in stopping a precipitous fall in the president's support from a near-record high of 88 percent one year ago. The survey results suggested that Bush's support has been shored up almost exclusively on the foundation of the economic recovery. Favorable assessments of the president's management of the economy spiked from 44 percent two months ago to 51 percent this month, an increase more than double the poll's margin of sampling error of 3.1 percentage points. The poll was conducted Saturday through Monday as a stream of recent reports suggested that the economy was getting back on its feet. The New York Federal Reserve reported this week that the U.S. technology sector was expanding at its fastest 12-month growth rate since mid-2000, while the nation's economic output leaped by 7.2 percent in the last three months. The Labor Department reported this week that employers hired 126,000 workers in October, adding jobs for the third straight month. Unemployment claims fell to their lowest level since Bush took office in January 2001. CONUNDRUM FOR DEMOCRATS Except for former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean and Rep. Dennis Kucinich of Ohio, many of Bush's Democratic presidential challengers either supported the military effort in Iraq initially or voted to authorize it in Congress, leading them to center their campaigns on economy fears. But with economic figures strengthening, they could find themselves in a quandary. At the same time, the poll indicated that Democrats could also have trouble gaining traction by refocusing their campaigns to follow Dean's antiwar stance. Support for the war to remove Iraqi President Saddam Hussein is stabilizing even as increased attacks by anti-U.S. insurgents killed more Americans in the first 10 days of November than had been killed in any other full month since major combat operations ended in May. Overall, public backing for the war remained statistically unchanged in November at 63 percent. It was the first time that number had not fallen since April. Meanwhile, Americans were split in November, the first time the question has been asked, on whether Saddam's ouster was specifically worth the cost in U.S. casualties and money. Forty-five percent said it was, compared with 46 percent who said it was not. msnbc.com