There’s finally some good news for the White House and from what has become an unlikely quarter for good news: an opinion poll.
A new polls suggests that President George Bush’s less-partisan-than-usual State of the Union address went over well with many viewers:
Americans who watched President Bush’s State of the Union Address generally approve of the proposals he outlined, but few think he will be able to accomplish the goals he set out, according to a CBS News Poll conducted online by Knowledge Networks immediately after the speech. In addition, the president improved his image among speech-watchers and made gains on Iraq and immigration.
Eight in ten speech-watchers approve of the proposals Mr. Bush made in his speech – typical of the high support a president receives among those who choose to watch this message. Just about as many viewers in 2005 and 2006 said they approved of the proposals he made then.
This is not something to be dismissed. One poll (especially one conducted online) most asssuredly doesn’t signal a massive Bush turn around but it underscores the fact that when a President speaks, Americans will give him the benefit of listening to him. It also shows that a less partisan, combative speech means many listeners will consider the content more seriously than if they, their beliefs or their party are directly or indirectly demonized.
This isn’t to say there is not a strong, firm partisan divide in early 21st Century America:
As expected, Republicans who watched the speech are more likely than Democrats to approve of the proposals laid out in the Bush speech. In addition, 52% of Republican viewers think the president will be able to accomplish his goals, while 84% of Democratic viewers do not think he will.
One warning on this poll, though: this is a poll of the “speech watchers.” It is NOT a poll of the public at large. There are some Americans who won’t watch a State of the Union address because they find it boring or, in Bush’s case, they may have already tuned the President out because they feel they’ve heard what he believes too many times already or they simply don’t want to hear him anymore.
But, at the very least, it shows that if words are chosen to seek to at the very least acknowledge the importance of consensus, those who listen may think a bit more about the issues discussed and have a mite more respect for the person who uttered them.
Will this matter in the end? What will matter will be…developments in Iraq.
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.