AP, Fox News Polls: Americans Want Democrats in Power; Bush approval at 36%

[Regis Philbin]

Pass a tough illegal immigration law and it will go over 50%...

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/07/11/politics/main1793845.shtml

Poll: Bush Approval Rating Improves

Gallup Shows Bush Back At 40% For First Time Since February

WASHINGTON, July 11, 2006
(CBS/AP)


A Quote

"It's easy to lose resolve if you made decisions based upon polls."

President Bush


(CBS) A new Gallup poll shows that President Bush's approval rating has increased slightly, reaching 40 percent for the first time since the beginning of February. Fifty-five percent of those surveyed July 6-9 disapprove of his performance.

Mr. Bush's approval ratings began to go down in the middle of February of this year, spiraling down to the lowest point of his presidency in early May at 31 percent.

The poll also reveals that while 78 percent of Republicans approve of the job that Mr. Bush is doing, only 10 percent of Democrats do. These figures represent improvement, however, from those of early May. Then, the president's average support among members of his own party was 68 percent. Among Democrats, four percent supported his job performance.

Last week, Mr. Bush told Larry King that he does not follow polls, nor does he allow them to dictate his decision-making.

"It's easy to lose resolve if you made decisions based upon polls," Mr. Bush said. "If you make decisions based upon what you believe in your heart of hearts, you stay resolved."

[Richard Tafoya]

He flips like a flag in the wind the minute Rove shows him any poll that says the "base" is slipping over one of his tanrums.

Like with his opposition (later reversed after it polled badly) to the creation of the 9/11 commission...
Like with his opposition (later reversed after it polled badly) to Geneva Convention protections for Guantanamo detainees...
Like with his opposition (later reversed after it polled badly) to having Condi Rice testify before the 9/11 commission...
Like with his opposition (later reversed after it polled badly) to the creation of the DHS...
Like with his opposition (later reversed after it polled badly) to the creation of the WMD commission to investigate intelligence failures...
Like with his opposition (later reversed after it polled badly) to the extension of a timeline for the 9/11 commission to complete its work...
Like with his opposition (later reversed after it polled badly) to a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage...

[Annoyedlistner]

Regis....how bad is it that you have to post a thread that titled....Bush approval UP to 40%

[DoubleEdgeSword]

Wow, 40%. Yeah, real impressive there Regis. This will go down in the history books. *snicker*

[db44]

He's still 1% in my book.

[pinky]

Dave, is that YOUR One Percent Doctrine?

[db44]

No, not really... I was being nice when I even gave him one percent.

[Richard Tafoya]

AP:
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/R/REPUBLICANS_AP_POLL?SITE=OHCIN&SECTION=AMERICAS&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

Republicans are in jeopardy of losing their grip on Congress in November. With less than four months to the midterm elections, the latest Associated Press-Ipsos poll found that Americans by an almost 3-to-1 margin hold the GOP-controlled Congress in low regard and profess a desire to see Democrats wrest control after a dozen years of Republican rule.

Further complicating the GOP outlook to turn things around is a solid percentage of liberals, moderates and even conservatives who say they'll vote Democratic. The party out of power also holds the edge among persuadable voters, a prospect that doesn't bode well for the Republicans.

The election ultimately will be decided in 435 House districts and 33 Senate contests, in which incumbents typically hold the upper hand. But the survey underscored the difficulty Republicans face in trying to persuade a skeptical public to return them to Washington.

The AP-Ipsos poll of 1,000 adults conducted Monday through Wednesday found that President Bush has stopped his political freefall, with his approval rating of 36 percent basically unchanged from last month. Bush received slightly higher marks for his handling of the Iraq war and the fight against terrorism, weeks after his surprise trip to Baghdad and the killing of Iraqi terrorist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi in a U.S. airstrike last month.

...

Overall, only 27 percent approved of the way Congress is doing its job. Lawmakers get favorable marks from 36 percent of conservatives, 28 percent of moderates and 17 percent of liberals.

Some criticism of Congress has focused on lawmakers' inability to control spending, with lawmakers tucking in special projects for their home districts.

"They used to say there's nothing worse than a tax-and-spend liberal Democrat," said Gary Wilson, 51, a self-described liberal from Gaithersburg, Md. "There is something worse: It's a borrow-and-spend Republican. This is going to come back to haunt us."

[Richard Tafoya]

07/13/06 FOX News Poll: Democrats Favored On Most Issues; Bush Approval Down to 36%
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,203346,00.html

Less than four months before Election Day, the latest FOX News Poll finds that voters strongly favor the Democrats on key issues such as the economy and gas prices, and give the minority party a double-digit lead for control of Congress this fall. For most of President Bush’s second term in office, more Americans have said they disapprove than approve of his job performance and that is again the case in this new poll.

The president’s approval rating dropped to 36 percent, down from 41 percent approval two weeks ago and 40 percent in mid-June. Bush lost ground this week among some key constituent groups, such as Republicans, whites and men. Overall, 53 percent of Americans say they disapprove.

"It is important to remember that the president got his bounce after the killing of al-Zarqawi in Iraq," comments Opinion Dynamics Chairman John Gorman. "While administration officials were careful not to overplay the significance of this, it naturally created hope that things would get better. Several weeks of bloody footage from Iraq have pretty much dashed those hopes."

...

Americans think the most important issues facing the country today are Iraq (21 percent), the economy (11 percent) and health care (10 percent). On each of these, Democrats are seen as the party that can do a better job — by a razor-thin margin on Iraq (+2 percentage points), and by much more significant margins on the economy (+20 points) and health care (+29 points).

Even though it is extremely close, this is the first time the GOP is no longer the preferred party on Iraq: By 38 percent to 36 percent voters say they think the Democrats would do a better job handling the war.

On terrorism, Republicans, who once had as much as a 34-point advantage in 2003, now top Democrats by 12 percentage points. The related issue of border security is the only other item where Republicans are favored.

[DoubleEdgeSword]

Well that 40% didn't last too long, eh Reg?

Oh yeah, this country is ready for a change. The pendulum always swings back, and it's in motion right now.