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Politics : Formerly About Advanced Micro Devices -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: steve harris who wrote (250393)	9/8/2005 9:15:05 PM
From: tejek	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1575637

You've got bigger things to worry about than Cindy Sheehan! SNAP! ********************************************************** Americans Give Bush Poor Marks on Handling Katrina, Polls** Sept. 8 (Bloomberg) -- Two new polls show Americans give President George W. Bush poor marks for his handling of the federal response to Hurricane Katrina, with one survey showing that Bush is now losing support even among his Republican base. Both polls contain additional bad news for Bush. A poll by the Pew Research Center for People and the Press gives him an overall job approval rating of 40 percent -- down 10 percent since January -- and a disapproval rating of 52 percent, among the highest of his presidency. Bush's job approval rating was 41 percent in a Zogby America poll, the lowest in that poll's history, and 53 percent of those questioned said the nation is headed in the ``wrong direction.'' The surveys were conducted in the week following the hurricane's assault on the Gulf Coast and show that support for the president, at near-record lows before the storm's arrival, fell further amid anger over the federal government's response. ``Uncharacteristically, the president's ratings have slipped most among his core constituents -- Republicans and conservatives,'' Pew director Andy Kohut wrote in an e-mail. In the Pew survey, 67 percent of 1,000 adults interviewed by telephone Sept. 6-7 said Bush could have done more to speed up relief efforts; 28 percent said he did everything possible. `Shift in Priorities' Hurricane Katrina produced a ``major shift in public priorities,'' according to Pew. For the first time since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, a majority of Americans now believe it is more important for the president to focus on domestic issues than the war on terrorism. When asked what should be a priority for the president, 56 percent said ``domestic policy,'' an increase of 16 percentage points since January. Twenty-five percent said Bush's top priority should be fighting terrorism, a 19-point decline from January. The Pew survey shows Bush's support among Republicans is strong but slipping, and since his support among Democrats and self-described independents remains consistent, Bush's declining approval is linked directly to that slippage within his own party. The new poll shows Bush with a job approval rating of 79 percent among Republicans, down 9 percentage points since Pew's July survey. Among Democrats, his approval was 19 percent compared with 18 percent in July, and among independents it was 33 percent versus 32 percent, changes that in both cases are within the poll's margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points. Support Down Within Party Among those who identify themselves as ``conservative Republicans,'' Bush's job approval declined seven percentage points from the July survey and by 11 percentage points among those who describe themselves as ``moderate Republicans.'' Bush's overall job approval rating in July was 44 percent. The Pew poll found that blacks are more inclined to believe race played a factor in the federal response to the hurricane than whites; many of those who remained in New Orleans after the flooding were blacks. Some 66 percent of blacks surveyed said the federal response would have been faster if most of the victims in New Orleans were white, while 77 percent of whites questioned said the issue of race made no difference in the government's response. Hurricane Katrina ravaged Louisiana, Mississippi and parts of Alabama and knocked eight oil refineries out of commission, leading to a surge in gasoline prices. The average U.S. retail price jumped 45 cents last week to $3.057 per gallon, according to the American Automobile Association. The Pew survey found that seven in 10 Americans are ``closely'' following news accounts on hurricane coverage, and that 71 percent are following stories on rising gasoline prices -- the highest percentage ever in the 20 years Pew has been asking respondents whether they pay attention to energy issues. Zogby Poll In the Zogby survey, Bush's overall job approval rating slumped to a record low as three-fifths of those questioned criticized the government's response to Hurricane Katrina. Forty-one percent of respondents in the telephone survey Sept. 6-7 gave Bush positive marks for his job performance, down from 45 percent in a July 30 survey and 50 percent in mid- February. Bush got negative marks from 59 percent of respondents, up from 55 percent in July and 50 percent in February in the poll. The poll showed 60 percent characterized Bush's handling of the hurricane as ``fair'' to ``poor,'' while 36 percent graded his performance ``good'' to ``excellent.'' More than half of those polled -- 53 percent -- said the country is headed in the wrong direction. ``The president has managed to do early in his second term what his father did in just one term: go from record-high approval numbers in the aftermath of 9/11 to his present numbers,'' John Zogby, chief executive of polling company Zogby International, said in a statement. The survey of 1,157 likely voters has a margin of error of plus or minus 2.9 percentage points, Zogby said. Bush would lose elections if he ran against the past four U.S. presidents, yet would edge Massachusetts Senator John Kerry - - his Democratic opponent in the 2004 election -- by 1 percentage point, the poll showed. bloomberg.com

To: steve harris who wrote (250393)	9/8/2005 9:18:29 PM
From: tejek	Respond to of 1575637

Poll: Katrina sparks shift in American priorities Majority says Bush's focus should be on domestic issues WASHINGTON - Hurricane Katrina has made Americans heartsick. They’re depressed about the images of destruction and despair they see from the storm zone and they increasingly want President Bush to shift his attention toward home, a poll released Thursday found. More than half of Americans now say it is more important for the president to focus on domestic policy — the first time since Sept. 11, 2001 that domestic matters have been viewed as a higher priority than the war on terrorism in polling by the Pew Research Center. Two-thirds said the president could have done more to get relief efforts going quickly, according to the survey. The slow-moving response to the hurricane appears to have shaken American confidence in the government’s ability to deal with a major disaster. Four in 10 said the response to the hurricane has made them less confident about the government’s ability to handle a major terrorist attack. Almost six in 10 in the Pew poll, 58 percent, say they have felt depressed because of what’s happened along the Gulf Coast. Pew polling indicates that at no point during the Iraq war has that high a percentage of people said they were depressed because of the war. continued.......... msnbc.msn.com