A Zogby poll shows yet more erosion of President Bush’s ratings, even after his high-touted Iraq speech at Fort Bragg.
And it also shows heightened polarization, where a large chunk of the electorate believes he should be impeached if it’s proven he lied about the reasons for going to war with Iraq.
It’ll be interesting to see if this coincides with other poll findings over the next few weeks — you have to keep individual polls in the overall context and Zogby’s reputation suffered a blow due to its 2004 election polling — but it’s jarring stuff:
President Bush’s televised address to the nation produced no noticeable bounce in his approval numbers, with his job approval rating slipping a point from a week ago, to 43%, in the latest Zogby International poll. And, in a sign of continuing polarization, more than two-in-five voters (42%) say they would favor impeachment proceedings if it is found the President misled the nation about his reasons for going to war with Iraq.
The Zogby America survey of 905 likely voters, conducted from June 27 through 29, 2005, has a margin of error of +/-3.3 percentage points.
Just one week ago, President Bush’s job approval stood at a previous low of 44%—but it has now slipped another point to 43%, despite a speech to the nation intended to build support for the Administration and the ongoing Iraq War effort.
The Zogby America survey includes calls made both before and after the President’s address, and the results show no discernible “bump” in his job approval, with voter approval of his job performance at 45% in the final day of polling.
But it isn’t all bad news for the Prez:
Where voters live has some impact on their perceptions. The President’s job rating remains relatively strong in the South, with 51% rating his performance favorably; in all other regions, those disapproving his performance are in the majority.
In a more significant sign of the weakness of the President’s numbers, more “Red State” voters—that is, voters living in the states that cast their ballots for the Bush-Cheney ticket in 2004—now rate his job performance unfavorably, with 50% holding a negative impression of the President’s handling of his duties, and 48% holding a favorable view. The President also gets negative marks from one-in-four (25%) Republicans—as well as 86% of Democrats and 58% of independents. (Bush nets favorable marks from 75% of Republicans, 13% of Democrats and 40% of independents.)
In a sign of the continuing partisan division of the nation, more than two-in-five (42%) voters say that, if it is found that President Bush did not tell the truth about his reasons for going to war with Iraq, Congress should hold him accountable through impeachment. While half (50%) of respondents do not hold this view, supporters of impeachment outweigh opponents in some parts of the country.
Right now the impeachment issue is one of those journalistic scenario stories. There is no indication that a serious movement to impeach George Bush has begun among the general population or the Democrats that weild the most power. Impeachment would require some evidence that cannot be refuted by the administration, as opposed to evidence (no matter how convincing some may feel it is) that has any iffy areas.
So at this point it’s a hypothetical — but the strong polling numbers the question goes does underscore the degree of polarization in the country.
UPDATE: But the Democrats’ glad-all-over-feelings about GWB’s polling nosedive are probably tempered by another poll that gives them back news, too:
A poll on the political mood in the United States conducted by the Democratic Party has alarmed the party at its own loss of popularity.
Conducted by the party-affiliated Democracy Corps, the poll indicated 43 percent of voters favored the Republican Party, while 38 percent had positive feelings about Democrats.
“Republicans weakened in this poll … but it shows Democrats weakening more,” said Stanley Greenberg, who served as President Clinton’s pollster.
Greenberg told the Christian Science Monitor he attributes the slippage to voters’ perceptions that Democrats have “no core set of convictions or point of view.”
Fellow strategist James Carville said the war in Iraq and rising fuel prices are affecting party loyalty as well.
“The country is just in a foul mood,” Carville said. He noted within the same poll, 56 percent of Americans say the country is headed in the wrong direction.
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.