CBS/NYT Bush's Approval Ratings Climb in Days After Hussein's Capture

[RamboLiberal]

http://www.nytimes.com/2003/12/17/politics/17POLL.html?hp

The capture of Saddam Hussein has lifted Americans' view of the state of the nation and their opinion of President Bush, while at least momentarily halting what had been a spiral of concern about the nation's economic and foreign policy, according to the latest New York Times/CBS News Poll.

<snip>

In the most apparent demonstration of the shift, 47 percent of respondents said the war was going well for the United States in the poll that ended Saturday night. That number jumped to 64 percent in the second poll. Before the weekend, 47 percent of Americans disapproved of the way Mr. Bush was handling foreign policy, the worst rating of his presidency. After the weekend, that number had slid to 38 percent.

Mr. Bush's approval rating jumped to 58 percent after Mr. Hussein was captured, from 52 percent, and the number of Americans who disapproved of his performance fell to 33 percent, from 40 percent.

<snip>

Nearly half the respondents said that they now believed that the United States, with the capturing of Mr. Hussein, had won the war. A majority said that the war was not over yet and that they expected troops to stay in place for years, rather than months. Most of those polled said they believed that Mr. Hussein had orchestrated the attacks on American soldiers, but a majority also expected those attacks to continue even with him in prison.

This last paragraph is what I believe is going to bite Bush in the butt in either case. Course I expect Osama will magically be captured or killed sometime in September or October.

[aquart]

1. Let's wait and see next month's polls.

[NJCher]

2. bush needs to manufacture some more boogymen

He's only got one left: Ossama. Better start demonizing now because the high off these captures only lasts so long.


Cher

[otohara]

3. Because, He Single Handidly Got The Guy Who Had Nothing

to do with 9/11 - makes perfect sense.

[Bozita]

4. There will be no trial before Election Day 2004

The BFEE would be indicted within hours of the defense resting.

Dumbya can't take the scrutiny.

Shifting poll results are the I-don't-have-the-time crowd. They get their information from the TV and radio. No time for learning or evaluating, These assholes are the key to any election in America today.

Rove knows this. He knows the importance of words. That's where Frank Luntz and his audience-tested words and phrases fit into the plan.

Luntz gets the high response words and phrases to Rove.

We get to listen to Dumbya repeat them endlessly in what seems to be random order. Over and over, Dumbya spouting these buzzword phrases eventually leads to favorable poll numbers.

Reality isn't important; perception of reality is everything.

Goebbels was right.

[Virginian]

5. October Surprise

"I expect Osama will magically be captured or killed sometime in September or October."

I heard Madeline Albright said something like that today, too.

[dbt]

6. Goody! A six-point bounce!

All bu$h has to do now is hang on to it. You know, the way Poppy hung onto his bounce after the First Iraq Nam.

:evilgrin:
dbt

[catmandu57]

7. A small spike upwards

doesn't really bother me, I expected no less, the people though have very short attention spans. Let's see what they do next month and month after, I don't believe there are many more tricks in the bag to distract with.

[arwalden]

8. Polls Are BS. --- The Polls In The DU Lounge Are More Reliable...

... and more informative and more truthful than anything you'll find in the "mainstream" press.

I don't care when these polls go against us, or when they appear to be for us. Why? Because they are all bullfunkey.

Twisted. Skewed. Manipulated.

-- Allen

[dusty64]

9. Give me a break.

How dense are average Americans and how does this change daily life here? I expect this bounce for "our glorious leader" to be shortlived indeed.

[JaneQPublic]

10. Chimpy's spikes are getting smaller each time

Check out CBS/NYT polls from the beginning of his administration:

http://www.pollingreport.com/BushJob.htm

After 9/11/01, he went from a 50% approval rating to 90%, or a spike of 40%.

After the start of the Iraq War and invasion of Baghdad, he went from 54% to 73%, or a spike of 19%.

After the capture of Saddam, Chimpy went from 49% to 58%, a very much smaller spike of only 9%.

Seems as though the American public can be called on to "rally `round the president" only so many times before the enthusiasm begins wearing off.

[David__77]

11. Hardly a major shift.

This isn't earth-shattering, that's for sure. I think that, from a purely cynical political standpoint, it's advantageous that this happened now and not later on, closer to the election. I certainly hope for the best in Iraq, meaning fewer deaths on all sides. But I don't think as long as the neo-cons are dictating policy that this is possible. We'll see the fruits of that policy, and they will be damaging to the ruling administration.