Poll: Most Americans Now View Bush As Stubborn

If you boil it down, the latest Washington-ABC News poll suggests that President George Bush has now formally moved into a new era where he is viewed less as someone admirably defending an unpopular viewpoint than as someone who is just stubborn.

That doesn’t bode well for Bush’s future — no matter what the crisis over the next two years — or in his ongoing battles over Iraq and with Congress over what clearly is an executive branch expansion of power. In fact, the poll shows the public would rather have a Congress that isn’t exactly held in high esteem itself take the lead on setting an Iraq withdrawal date:

Most Americans see President Bush as intransigent on Iraq and prefer that the Democratic-controlled Congress make decisions about a possible withdrawal of U.S. forces, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll.

As the president and Congress spar over war policy, both receive negative marks from the public for their handling of the situation in Iraq. But by a large margin, Americans trust Democrats rather than the president to find a solution to a conflict that remains enormously unpopular. And more than six in 10 in the new poll said Congress should have the final say on when to bring the troops home.

The president has steadfastly asserted his power as commander in chief to make decisions about the war, but his posture is now viewed by majorities of Democrats, independents and even Republicans as too inflexible. Asked whether Bush is willing enough to change policies on Iraq, nearly eight in 10 Americans said no.

This means most Americans no longer perceive Bush as someone who makes policy based on the information before him, someone who is constantly evaluating and re-evaluating and seriously exploring option sheets. And, in fact, some of the books published over the past few years suggests that is an accurate assessment — that this is actually a government that has employed a kind of policy-making by positive affirmation.

Since December, the percentage seeing Bush as too rigid has increased 12 points, with the most significant change among Republicans. Just after the 2006 midterm elections and the release of the 79-point plan from the bipartisan Iraq Study Group, 55 percent of Republicans thought Bush was willing enough to change course in Iraq; in this poll, 55 percent of Republicans said he is not.

Bush’s overall approval rating equals its all-time low in Post-ABC News polls at 33 percent, with 65 percent disapproving. Fifty-two percent said they “strongly” disapprove of his job performance, the highest figure of his presidency and more than three times the 16 percent who strongly approve.

Three-quarters of Republicans approve of the way he is handling his job, but just one in 10 Democrats and three in 10 independents give him positive marks.

In other words, Bush continues to be a President with an acutely narrow, strictly partisan base. In political terms, the GOP should be concerned about this emerging and solidifying coalition of Democrats and independent voters coming at a time when Republican Party enrollments have decreased — and the party is led by a President perceived as not being flexible enough to seriously consider all actions in a highly unpopular war.