Bush's numbers still falling

The drop this week isn't monumental -- 1 point -- but Bush's 68 percent approval rating this week is still significant. Bush's handlers were shocked at Bush's 7-8 point drop last week, and had him rush out a proposal for a Department of Homeland Security (backstabbing Ridge and congressional Republicans that had fought Dem efforts to create such a department). The proposal was supposed to shore up Bush's numbers. Instead, the first poll released in the interim has Bush's numbers still dropping (albeit not as dramatically as last week's big plunge).

The poll also suggests that while people are optimistic the economy will improve, they do recognize it is currently in the gutter:

Thinking about the economy in the country as a whole, how would you rate our national economy? Would you say it is in excellent shape, good shape, only fair shape or poor shape?

Excellent shape ......... 1%
Good shape .......... 29
Only fair shape .......... 50
Poor shape .......... 20
Don't know/refused .......... 1

Thinking back over the past year, would you say that our nation's economy has gotten better, gotten worse over the past year or has it stayed the same?

Gotten better .......... 14%
Gotten worse .......... 48
Stayed the same .......... 37
Don't know/refused .......... 1

The big question, of course, is who will be blamed for the bad economy. The poll indicates that only 16 percent of people blame Bush, with 57 percent saying he has been irrelevant to the economy. It will be interesting to see if those numbers hold up in the face of increasingly emboldened Dems and skeptical press (witness the 'trifecta' controversy). The Bushies will continue to blame the war, but that may lose traction as more 9-11 revelations come to the fore, and as the public becomes increasingly skeptical of Bush's motives.

Posted June 20, 2002 05:17 PM | Comments (1)