A little London Bomb Boost for Junior: "his best rating in six months"

[Human Torch]

Bush rating best in six months
Updated 8/21/2006 7:28 PM ET
By Susan Page and David Jackson, USA TODAY

http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2006-08-21-bush-approval-rating_x.htm?POE=NEWISVA

WASHINGTON — The arrest of bomb plotters in London has helped buoy President Bush's approval rating and the prospects for Republican congressional candidates in November.

A USA TODAY/Gallup Poll taken Friday through Sunday put Bush's approval rating at 42%, the highest in six months. His approval rating on handling terrorism was 55%, the highest in more than a year.

Support for an unnamed Democratic congressional candidate over a Republican one has narrowed to 2 percentage points. For the past year, Democrats have led by much wider margins.

The success in disrupting a plot to bomb U.S. airliners "changes the way people evaluate the job that he's doing on terrorism," says Christopher Gelpi, a Duke political scientist who studies foreign policy and public opinion. "It also changes the subject of public discussion from the war in Iraq, which people are not very happy about." Gelpi cautioned the impact could be fleeting. "One event (in London) is likely to fade in the public mind," he says, "whereas the war in Iraq is an ongoing problem." Bush's rating on six other areas didn't significantly change.

[OnyxCollie]

1. My god, is that a frightening pic. nt