A new poll indicates that President George W. Bush is rapidly losing support among members of his own party — and it’s perhaps a clue why Arizona Senator John McCain’s campaign seems on the downswing, given that McCain has become the Bush GOP establishment candidate:
In the months since the Congressional elections, President Bush has lost substantial support among members of his own party, according to the latest New York Times/CBS News Poll.
Mr. Bush’s approval rating dropped 13 percentage points since last fall among Republicans, 65 percent of whom now say they approve of the way he is handling his job as president, compared with 78 percent last October.
Over all, Mr. Bush’s job approval remains at one of its lowest points, with 29 percent of all Americans saying they approve of the way he is doing his job, compared with 34 percent at the end of October. Sixty-one percent disapproved, compared with 58 percent in October, within the margin of sampling error.
So it would appear the President has not yet bottomed out. Will the Walter Reed scandal increase his support among GOPers?
Twenty-three percent of those polled approved of the way Mr. Bush is dealing with the situation in Iraq. Twenty-five percent approved of his handling of foreign policy.
Even the president’s campaign against terrorism, long his signature issue, is seen positively by only 40 percent of those polled, while 53 percent disapprove.
Recent headlines about Afghanistan being threatened by the return of the Taliban, and widely publicized stories about Pakistan reportedly remaining a hotbed and perhaps future base of terrorism probably have not helped. AND:
Three-quarters of those polled say things are going badly for the United States in Iraq, and only 23 percent say the efforts to bring stability and order to Iraq are going well.
Seventy percent, including 52 percent of Republicans, say there is not much the United States military can do to reduce the sectarian fighting in Iraq.
This does not sound as if there is a perception that Iraq will become a beacon of democracy, at least not in western democratic terms.
Over all, 23 percent of the public say the country is going in the right direction and 68 percent consider it as having “gotten off on the wrong track.�
That’s a dangerous number…not just for the White House, but for Republicans in Congress.
So, in political terms, you’ll see many Republican politicos starting to distance themself from the administration — except McCain, who continues to woo the establishment amid signs that key segments of the Republican Party aren’t accepting the wooing. The poll underscores McCain’s difficulties: he strongly supports the administration on some key matters at a time when a growing number of Republicans are not happy with the administration.
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.