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

To: Alighieri who wrote (279604)	3/10/2006 2:39:26 PM
From: tejek	Respond to of 1585502

President Bush losing support among Hoosiers Survey: Bush's approval rating has dropped 18 points in Indiana over the past year By Mary Beth Schneider mary.beth.schneider@indystar.com Indiana voted twice to elect George W. Bush to the White House, but an Indianapolis Star poll indicates more than half of Hoosiers now disapprove of the job he's doing as president. HOOSIERS SPEAK OUT PRESIDENT BUSH 45% of Hoosiers 35 to 54 approve of the way Bush is handling the situation in Iraq, but only 29 percent of those 65 and older do so. Looking at Bush Outside of his performance on fighting terrorism, President Bush gets low marks from Hoosiers in the new poll. The economy • Approve: 39% • Disapprove: 55% • Not sure 6% The federal budget • Approve: 27% • Disapprove: 63% • Not sure 10% The The fight against terror • Approve: 52% • Disapprove: 41% • Not sure 7% Immigration policy • Approve: 23% • Disapprove: 61% • Not sure 16% On Iraq The president's approval rating on his handling of Iraq has been falling since January 2004: March 2006 • Approve: 38% • Disapprove: 56% • Not sure 6% March 2005 • Approve: 49% • Disapprove: 46% • Not sure 5% January 2004 • Approve: 55% • Disapprove: 39% • Not sure 6% Right or wrong track Hoosiers who think the country is on the wrong track have increased: March 2006 • Approve: 34% • Disapprove: 61% • Not sure 5% March 2005 • Approve: 39% • Disapprove: 56% • Not sure 5% January 2004 • Approve: 50% • Disapprove: 42% • Not sure 8% Only 37 percent of those surveyed last week think Bush is doing a good job as president, while 56 percent disapprove. The poll, conducted from Feb. 28 to March 2, is based on the responses of 501 Hoosiers statewide. How bad are the results for Bush? For a Republican in a red state like Indiana, very bad. The president's approval rating has dropped 18 points in Indiana since March 2005. The president's approval rating equals the 37 percent approval rating Hoosiers gave President Bill Clinton, a Democrat, back in August 1994. And the rating mirrors the national view of the president. A recent CNN/USA Today/Gallup Poll showed the president's approval rating nationwide at 38 percent. Bush received positive marks in only one area: the fight against terrorism. There, 52 percent of Hoosiers approved of Bush's performance. On Iraq, the economy, the budget and immigration policies, a majority of those Hoosiers polled disapproved of the president's job performance. Even among Republicans, Bush did poorly on immigration and the budget. Scott Majors, 27, a Democrat who lives in Winfield in Lake County, said he has friends who have served in Iraq, and he supports the president's handling of the war in Iraq. But he disapproves of Bush in general, fearing the president has lost touch with the larger war on terrorism. "After 9/11, everyone was so focused on it," Majors said. "Now it seems like we've forgotten all about it and have different agendas now." James Hatfield, 47, Winfield, is an independent voter who voted twice for President Bush, and he is satisfied. "The war on terror, he's done a fine job. Bill Clinton should have started this a long time ago, but he ignored it," Hatfield said. "I don't agree with everything the president says or does, but on the majority of things I do agree." Kay Melloy, a 64-year-old independent voter from Chandler, finds nothing to approve of in Bush's job performance. She's especially distressed by the amount of money Bush is spending overseas in Iraq, when there are so many needs in the United States. She works in a bank, she said, and sees elderly people with very little to live on. "It goes through me like a knife," Melloy said. Robert Schmuhl, a professor of American studies at the University of Notre Dame, called the poll numbers a "very revealing" portrait of a presidency gone awry. "Since his inauguration to the second term, we have seen something akin to a reverse Midas touch," in which everything Bush handles turns not to gold, but lead, Schmuhl said. Schmuhl cited the president's failed attempt to remake Social Security, the disastrous response to Hurricane Katrina, the ongoing war in Iraq, the failed Supreme Court nomination of Harriet Miers and, most recently, the ports controversy. "These numbers should be troubling to Republicans," Schmuhl said. The poll, conducted by Selzer & Co. of Des Moines, Iowa, has a margin of error of plus or minus 4.4 percentage points. indystar.com

To: Alighieri who wrote (279604)	3/10/2006 2:58:39 PM
From: tejek	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1585502

Poll shows majority in five Southern states disapproves of President Bush Associated Press Posted March 3 2006, 4:25 PM EST CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- A majority of adults in five key Southern states disapproves of President Bush's job performance and says the war in Iraq was not worth fighting, according to an Elon University poll released Friday. In the survey, 52 percent of respondents said they disapproved or strongly disapproved of Bush's job performance, compared to 43 percent who said they approved or strongly approved. Asked whether the war with Iraq was worth fighting, a slim majority _ 51 percent _ said no, while just 44 percent said yes. All five of the states polled _ Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia and Florida _ went to Bush in the 2004 presidential election by margins ranging from 58 percent in South Carolina and Georgia to 52 percent in Florida. Less than 18 months later, Bush isn't even close to majority approval in any of those states. ``For him not to even break (50 percent), not to even approach it, says all you need to say,'' said Hunter Bacot, an Elon political science professor and director of the poll. ``In five 'red' states that have been ardent supporters of Bush, he can't even approach 50 percent.''</b. The telephone survey of 1,277 adults was taken Feb. 20-23 and Feb. 26-March 2 and has a margin of error of plus or minus 2.8 percentage points. Recent national polls on the president's popularity have placed his overall approval rating in the mid to high 30s. In the Elon poll, Georgia residents were the most supportive of Bush, with 48 percent saying they approved or strongly approved of his job performance, while 48 percent disapproved or strongly disapproved. Support for Bush was lowest in Florida, Virginia and North Carolina, at 42 percent. Bacot said survey interviews indicated that the anti-terrorism and security issues that have played to the Republicans' advantage since Sept. 11, 2001, may no longer be working for them. Fifty-six percent of people disapproved of Bush's handling of the Iraq conflict. In North Carolina and Florida, roughly 4 in 10 people surveyed expressed strong disapproval of the president on Iraq. Fifty-two percent said they believe the Iraq war has put the United States more at risk of terrorist attack, compared to 31 percent who said America is now less at risk and 14 percent who said the risk remains about the same as it was before the war. And in Virginia, North Carolina and Florida, more than 50 percent of respondents said they did not believe the Iraq war was worthwhile. The survey's results echoed an earlier North Carolina-only poll by Elon that hinted Bush's troubles could hurt Republicans in November's mid-term congressional election. Of those polled, 46 percent said they voted Republican in the 2004 presidential election, while 42 percent said they voted Democratic. When asked which party they will support this year, 33 percent said Democrats and 27 percent said Republicans. ``What jumps out at you here is the difference in drop-off for Democrats and Republicans,'' Bacot said, adding that Bush's unpopularity could prove a drag on Republican incumbents who won with 55 percent or less of the vote in 2004. ___ sun-sentinel.com