Reply #70: I want to add a few more bitsof soft data that supports the extensive...

[Peace Patriot]

hard data pointing to a Kerry win, and that is, Americans' overwhelming disagreement with every major Bush policy, foreign and domestic--in the range of 60% to 70% disagreement. On the Iraq war, on torturing prisoners, on the privatization of Social Security, on the deficit--you name it--Bush simply does not represent the majority of Americans, and strong disapproval of Bush AND his policies has been consistent since before the election.

I recall seeing one poll on his inauguration day (!) that showed him with a 48% approval rating. Can't find it now--but his approval ratings have hovered around 50% for over six months--astounding disapproval ratings for a recently "re-elected" 2nd term president.

As for the war, Americans have strongly disapproved of it from the very beginning. Almost 60% of Americans disapproved of the invasion of Iraq in February 2003 (just before the invasion). That disapproval continues to this day, at almost 60%. The only exception was during the invasion itself, and in the couple of months of heavy fighting just afterwards (understandable, since it is likely that many people being polled at that time would have feared that a negative answer might cost American lives--but that hasn't changed their disapproval of the war before or since, except perhaps by underestimation--with the same factor at work in peoples' answers but to a smaller degree.)

I keep reading these opinion polls, and thinking, "Wow! How could this guy be president? Most people strongly disapprove of everything he's doing--so, who elected him?" Of course, it was the news monopolies and Diebold who "elected" him. We know that. But still, I wonder at the news monopolies (not to mention the Democratic leaders and whatever "liberal commentators" might be left standing), and their total lack of curiosity about these very strange facts: Bush supposed elected by 3.5 million votes, yet 60% to 70% of Americans disagree with him on EVERYTHING.

It's odd--even knowing what we know.

See http://207.44.245.159/article8191.htm --for some of the more recent polls. (Your eyes will bug out, and you'll say, "Wha....?!")

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NOTE:

I just discovered that the URL above doesn't get you to the polls article any more (you might have to search that site), so here's the NYT site (registration required), and a portion of the article:

WISING UP:
PUBLIC SKEPTICAL OF BUSH PLANS
NEW POLL FINDS BUSH PRIORITIES ARE OUT OF STEP WITH AMERICANS

(3/3/2005) --Americans say President Bush does not share the priorities of most of the country on either domestic or foreign issues, are increasingly resistant to his proposal to revamp Social Security and say they are uneasy with Mr. Bush's ability to make the right decisions about the retirement program, according to the latest New York Times/CBS News poll.

… Four out of five respondents said it was the government's responsibility to assure a decent standard of living for the elderly. . . . 63 percent of respondents say the president has different priorities on domestic issues than most Americans. Asked to choose among five domestic issues facing the country, respondents rated Social Security third, behind jobs and health care. And nearly 50 percent said Democrats were more likely to make the right decisions about Social Security, compared with 31 percent who said the same thing about Republicans. . .

… "There are so many other things that seem to me to be more critical and immediate: I think the national debt is absolutely an immediate thing to address," said Irv Packer, 66, a Missouri Republican. He added, "Another one that I'd really like to see people working on is the environment."

. . . 58 percent of respondents said the White House did not share the foreign affairs priorities of most Americans. . . Sixty percent of respondents - including 48 percent of self-described conservatives - said they disapproved of how Mr. Bush was managing the deficit. And 90 percent of respondents described the deficit as a very or somewhat serious problem.

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/03/politics/03poll.html?adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1109912880-9FJIlEsrSmsZ/Plcuih5Vg