A new Newsweek poll has come out indicating a majority of American’s don’t like the way the Bush administration is expanding federal powers to fight terrorism — a poll that contradicts an earlier Washington Post poll, although the wording of the polls and the times they were taken may not be the same.
First, the news from Newsweek:
Has the Bush administration gone too far in expanding the powers of the President to fight terrorism? Yes, say a majority of Americans, following this week’s revelation that the National Security Agency has been secretly collecting the phone records of U.S. citizens since the September 11 terrorist attacks. According to the latest NEWSWEEK poll, 53 percent of Americans think the NSA’s surveillance program “goes too far in invading people’s privacy,� while 41 percent see it as a necessary tool to combat terrorism.
President Bush tried to reassure the public this week that its privacy is “fiercely protected,� and that “we’re not mining or trolling through the personal lives of innocent Americans.� Nonetheless, Americans think the White House has overstepped its bounds: 57 percent said that in light of the NSA data-mining news and other executive actions, the Bush-Cheney Administration has “gone too far in expanding presidential power.� That compares to 38 percent who think the Administration’s actions are appropriate.
There’s more bad news for the White House in the NEWSWEEK poll: President Bush’s approval rating has dropped to the lowest in his presidency. At 35 percent, his rating is one point below the 36 percent he received in Newsweek’s polls in March and November, 2005.
Iraq continues to be the biggest drain on the president’s popularity: 86 percent of Americans say the Iraq situation, coupled with new information about the decision to go to war, have negatively influenced their view of the president. Asked about Bush’s performance on a variety of issues, from the economy to taxes, respondents gave the president some of the worst marks of his tenure, and in no instance did approval reach more than 50 percent.
As we mentioned in our earlier post chain-linked below, polls are see-saws and you need to look at several before you can determine a trend. The first, snap poll by the Post found support for the NSA phone call surveillance. Now this one finds most Americans are not happy.
This means if the Democrats pursue surveillance issues it does not automatically mean it’s going to backfire on them — or that if the GOP tries to paint the Democrats as being soft on terrorism for not supporting the administration it is not going to backfire on THEM. It suggests that polls coming out soon will be the ones to closely watch — because this poll shows not just disapproval of the NSA activity but continued, solidifying disapproval for Bush which can translate into diminishing clout…especially in an election year.
Once again: it is the TREND you see in the polls that’s important. And each poll is a snap-shot, reflecting a moment in time.
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.