Dividing the Nation -new Newsweek Poll - 36% approval; public anger rising

[Pirate Smile]

Job Approval
36% Approve
58% Disapprove

Bush's Handling of Iraq War
29% approval
65% disapproval

40% think Pres should ask people to step down
48% it is better not to make (staff) changes (People blame Bush, not his staff)

Impeachment
yes 29%
no 69%

About 50% of Democrats think Bush should be impeached.

Democrats take control of Congress 50%
Republicans keep control 34%

Newsweek has the article up:

Dividing the Nation

President Bush’s approval rating has dropped to new lows on domestic issues and public anger is rising over his handling of Iraq and homeland security, according to NEWSWEEK’s latest poll.

Web Exclusive
By Christopher Dickey
Newsweek
Updated: 11:31 a.m. ET March 18, 2006

March 18, 2006 - A bitterly divided electorate gives President George W. Bush an approval rating of only 36 percent in the latest NEWSWEEK poll, matching the low point in his presidency recorded last November. His image as an effective leader in the war on terror is tarnished, with less than half the public (44 percent) approving of the way he’s handling terrorism and homeland security. Despite a series of presidential speeches meant to bolster support for the war in Iraq, as well as the announcement of a major military offensive when the poll was getting under way, only 29 percent of the people questioned approved Bush’s handling of the situation in Iraq. Fully 65 percent disapprove.

The way the president has dealt with issues at home hasn't brought him much support either. His approval ratings for the handling of energy policy (28 percent) and health care (28 percent) were new lows, while approval on the economy (36 percent) mirrored his overall rating. The single area where President Bush accrued more approval than disapproval was in his appointments to the Supreme Court, which 47 percent approved.

The outright anger against Bush felt by many Americans was reflected in responses to questions about the effort of Democratic Sen. Russ Feingold of Wisconsin to censure Bush in Congress for his warrantless wiretapping program. Feingold has found very little support for his move on the Hill. Four in 10 (42 percent) of the adults in the general public say they would support Congressional censure of the president, while half (50 percent) say they would not. Censure wins majority support from Democrats (60 percent) and one in five Republicans (20 percent) say they’d support it. Yet if Democrats in Congress do decide to push for such a measure, they may run into trouble with that same public. By a margin of 53 percent to 33 percent, Americans feel the censure proposal was made as a partisan ploy, not for reasons of principle.

In today’s strongly polarized political climate, roughly one in four American adults (26 percent) say they think Congress should actually impeach President Bush and consider removing him from office. There is in fact no effort to do this on the Hill, and the public mood appears to be more a reflection of the passionate sentiment against Bush in some quarters rather than considered support for actual legislative action. (Some recent national polls show about 45 percent of adults strongly disapprove of the president’s performance.) The NEWSWEEK poll shows that only 5 percent of Republicans would support impeaching Bush, while 94 percent would not. Among Democrats, almost half (49 percent) support impeachment, while 48 percent oppose it. Overall, 69 percent do not think Congress should consider removing him from office.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11894249/site/newsweek/

[UrbScotty]

1. I remember a time when 46% was considered low.

Thank God more and more people are waking up now.

[LynzM]

2. I love how Bush thinks speeches will cover up...

For all the shit hitting the fan. Their comes a point when even the most ignorant start to see through a lot of empty rhetoric and promises and bullshit. The emperor isn't wearing any clothes, and people are finally starting to admit to that...

[Pirate Smile]

3. They don't know what to do now that PR doesn't do it for them.

This entire Presidency was based on PR and spin.

Now that the substance of the effects from all their decisions can be seen, they don't know what to do but try and give speeches.

Katrina and Iraq have stripped away the aura they surrounded themselves with - Reality has hit and they don't DO Reality.

[salin]

4. Yet the reality that the can no longer PR their way

out of this whole hasn't yet struck Bushco, and many of the GOP leadership, hasn't hit them yet. It is a bad sign for them when their attempts to PR spin out of negatives, suddenly become news stories.

[Heewack]

5. You nailed it.

Since impeachement doesn't seem to be gaining any traction amongst our leaders I say we start a resignation campaign.

RESIGN YOU BASTARD!

[Cha]

20. I know..it's so Sad that it took

something as Devastating as Katrina to strip away the veneer of the bush freak show.

The freaks thought they could get away with ignoring New Orleans in her time of need.

[kurth]

6. So impeachment on blow job was based on PRINCIPLE?

What a load of crap.

[ChairmanAgnostic]

7. For some time, I feared a surprise, a rational smart move by Bush. Then,

all at once, sometime last week, I realized that my fears were groundless. After all, this is BUSH we are talking about. When he goes into his bunker mode, he refuses all advice, he keeps his mind made up and he attacks the messenger. Only a few people have his ear, and even that is rare.

For one thing, that means that no smart person will even consider working in this hellhole of a WH. Thompson, Rollins - those are just symptoms.
It also means that, as anxious as I feel, sitting back and watching these idiots self-destruct can actually be entertaining and relaxing. The chances that Bush and his cronies will pick themselves up, tie their own shoe laces, pull their heads and thumbs out of their butts and start (to quote Smarmie McClellan) the "people's business", and even by mistake, make a decision that helps the majority of Americans is 0. Nil. Nada. Zero. None. Zip. Cero.

Oh, don't get me wrong, they will do things. They can't help themselves. For example: The latest Iraqi offensive that wasn't; some new plan for social security or medicaid; some proclamation about Iran; a new domestic offensive which will help churches and religious conservatives get even more federal funding - something like that. And they will fail. They will fail miserably, because the ones making the decisions will be Bush, Condi, Card, Rove and Cheney. They cannot change their stripes, so they will do what comes naturally. Failure is the only option. Even the most pious and sycophantic supporters in the media will notice. Kate O'burnmyass and Hannity might try to defend him, but without success.

My only worry about sitting back and pouring myself a cognac with a smile, is that they are actually harming our country. There are countless examples of horrific structural damage to the body politic, to our congress, to the judiciary and to every branch of government. It will take years to fix it. I only hope we have the chance.

[cliss]

8. A great post.

You echoed my feelings, and the sentiments of about many others who are aware of what's going on.

[peacebird]

15. well put. I fear they will bomb Iran to stir up the rabid "war-patriot"

support. The folks who say "to criticise in a time of war is unpatriotic"

The only extra fear I have is that they are *just* smart enough to know they can't win against Iran unless they play really, really dirty... I fear that * will decide he *has* to use a nuke to take out their plants.

I really really fear this administration will use nukes pre-emptively.

edited to change "we" to "THEY" - it ain't MY WAR....

[freefall]

21. I share your fear of a pre-emptive nuclear attack on Iran, peacebird.

I used to think the powers-that-be were too smart for such a dangerous stupid move, but I no longer believe that. This administration is like a junk yard dog with its back to the wall. There is a very real possibility that they will fight dirty and god help us then. If we use nuclear weapons in a pre-emptive nuclear attack on Iran or even if we attack Iran with conventional weapons, I believe we will start what may become the last world war. Bush's military and economic policies have pretty much guaranteed that we won't be the world's superpower for much longer. That may not be a bad thing. Most average European citizens have a better quality of life than we do. Maybe if we aren't a superpower any more we will spend more of our resources here at home where they are needed.

Peace,

freefall

[peacebird]

23. prayers for us all, freefall

peace,

:hug:

peacebird

[Mithras61]

9. Some of these numbers really tweak my shorts...

Impeachment
yes 29%
no 69%


I guess the majority (69%) just don't see what he's doing yet. Yeah, we reached 'em on Iraq & on Katrina, but they just don't get the rest of the illegal things that this bunch of criminals has been up to.

What will it take to get the sheep to realize that the Pentagon, the NSA and the FBI have been wiretapping and capturing emails from ALL of us (not just the so-called terrorists)? How hard do we have to hit them with these groups wiretapping QUAKERS and PEACE ACTIVISTS before they get that there are no terrorists in the people W_rong has ordered tapped? They are his POLITICAL OPPONENTS.

How do I know this? I know this because they went to the FISA court for some tap orders and not for others. They didn't go for the ones the FISA courts would not approve, and they knew that the FISA courts wouldn't approve beforehand. Just about the only thing the FISA courts DON'T approve is wiretapping of POLITICAL opponents.

[Pirate Smile]

11. I think we have to win back Congress so we have subpoena power

and do real investigations.

Winning back Congress is the key to exposing this Administration.

[Mithras61]

13. You may be right, but...

there's a problem with that...

So long as the voting machines are electronic and the ballots are electronic or counted by electronic systems, we will not have control of our votes. I don't mind if we have electronic voting machines, so long as they produce a human-readable paper ballot (not a receipt, which has no standing in court) that MUST be counted by people (even if the electronic machines provide a "preliminary" count that is accurate).


EVERY other democracy in the world uses paper ballots. WHY do we have to use unsafe, hackable, manipulatable, tamperable, no chain-of-custody electronic ballots that cannot be verified or guaranteed accurate? The ONLY answer I can come up with that REALLY makes sense is so that elections can be stolen and there is NO trail to follow showing WHO did it.

[MrPrax]

10. Too bad the US

is a single party state--an Opposition Party, if formed, could have a field day with these numbers :eyes:

[bread_and_roses]

14. Exactly. (n/t)

[truthisfreedom]

12. and that doesn't include the people who are too scared to say what they

think over the phone because bushco is making them paranoid.

[rodeodance]

16. lots of disapproval but seems most not care to slap him hard.

The outright anger against Bush felt by many Americans was reflected in responses to questions about the effort of Democratic Sen. Russ Feingold of Wisconsin to censure Bush in Congress for his warrantless wiretapping program. Feingold has found very little support for his move on the Hill. Four in 10 (42 percent) of the adults in the general public say they would support Congressional censure of the president, while half (50 percent) say they would not. Censure wins majority support from Democrats (60 percent) and one in five Republicans (20 percent) say they’d support it. Yet if Democrats in Congress do decide to push for such a measure, they may run into trouble with that same public. By a margin of 53 percent to 33 percent, Americans feel the censure proposal was made as a partisan ploy, not for reasons of principle.

[MagickMuffin]

18. the last line in that sentence makes me cringe!

"Americans feel the censure proposal was a partisan ploy, not for reasons of principle."

Oh really, I think it is a bi-partisan ploy. Not for reasons of principle, WTF. Maybe the people who took the poll has no principles.

What is wrong with these people? ? ? ?

After all do the independents, Repubs, Greens, Libertarians, etc. think that the Bush Regime/Cartel aren't spying on them?

Does everyone really think that they are only spying on terrorist?

How can people be that stupid?

Russ Feingold is doing this for EVERYONE. It isn't for the Democratic party. This is something every member of congress should be in favor of, Sheesh!

Does anyone know where I can see the questionnaire?
It would be interesting to see how the questions were asked....

[young_at_heart]

17. He will no go into intense "campaign" mode

He likes to get out with people and show them his "folksy" side...that he's one of them, and his numbers will rise again. Of course, he'll only be able to show how wonderful he is to selected audiences.

[Buck Rabbit]

19. Divide? Hell no! Bush is uniting the country

against him.

[Mark E. Smith]

22. 29% approval for his Iraq policies?

Near nonexistent support for Shrubby's vanity war.