If George Bush’s previous poll low numbers reached the “floor” during Hurricane Katrina and later went up after an improved federal response to Hurricane Rita, perhaps you can now say his latest numbers are going into the basement:
(CBS) This CBS News Poll finds an American public increasingly pessimistic about the economy, the war in Iraq, the overall direction of the country, and the President. Americans’ outlook for the economy is the worst it has been in four years. Most expect the price of gas to rise even further in the next few months.
A growing number of Americans want U.S. troops to leave Iraq as soon as possible, rather than stay the course, and the highest percentage ever thinks the U.S. should have stayed out of Iraq. When given a set of options for paying for rebuilding the hurricane-racked Gulf Coast, only one — taking money from the Iraq War — gets majority support.
President George W. Bush’s overall job approval rating has reached the lowest ever measured in this poll, and evaluations of his handling of Iraq, the economy and even his signature issue, terrorism, are also at all-time lows. More Americans than at any time since he took office think he does not share their priorities.
The public’s concerns affect their view of the state of the country. 69 percent of Americans say things in the U.S. are pretty seriously off on the wrong track — the highest number since CBS News started asking the question in 1983. Today, just 26 percent say things are going in the right direction.
And, worse for GWB, this poll confirms an ongoing trend: the administration is holding its partisan GOPers fairly well, but independents are running away in droves:
President Bush’s job approval rating has fallen to his lowest rating ever. 37 percent now approve of the job he is doing as president, while 58 percent disapprove. Those in his own party are still overwhelmingly positive about his performance (nearly 80 percent approve), but the president receives little support from either Democrats or Independents. And while views of President Bush have lately not changed much among Republicans or Democrats, his approval rating among Independents has dropped 11 points since just last month, from 40 percent to 29 percent now.
Note that Karl Rove, in a masterstroke (or Machiavellian stroke, depending on your perspective) used a “general mobilization” strategy in the last presidential election where his number one priority was to appeal to the party’s base and get it out to vote. In most other elections there has usually been a conscious effort to woo independents and centrists. Rove gave a new meaning to the phrase “base politics.”
Even so, Bush picked up many votes from independents, centrists and Democrats who didn’t trust John Kerry or who were turned off by the historically inept campaign run by his campaign manager Bob (I-Usually-Lose-National-Elections-I-Run) Shrum.
The problem for Bush: his polls’ trending continues now to be generally downward.
The question for Bush: how much further is it to the bottom of the basement?
If there are major twists and turns in the Harriet Miers Supreme Court nomination bid, or indictments of bigname White House bigwigs in the Plamegate scandal, we may find out fairly soon..
UPDATE: For another two other perspectives see DC Debate.