More on post-SOTU polls

Okay, this is how a news story on the post-speech polls should be written:

Polls taken after President Bush's State of the Union address suggest his message on the need for military action against Iraq resonated more strongly with the Republican-leaning audience than did his message on the economy.

The key here, of course, is to make clear that those polled are Republican leaning. This is an obviously important distinction missed by most of the early stories on the polls.

What's most interesting about the Gallup and ABC polls discussed in this story is that this Republican-leaning audience remained skeptical of Bush's economic plan. If he can't sell the plan to his own supporters, how will he sell it to the nation at large?

We'll probably have to wait a few days before real polls gauge the overall public reaction, though this may give us a sneak preview:

The speech had no immediate effect on opinions of the general population, according to the ABC News poll, which conducted an overall poll while also tracking viewers of the address.

I'd be very surprised if the president doesn't get some sort of bump. The timing of that "general population" poll could not account for the news coverage and water cooler conversations. (Of course, everyone was probably discussing "American Idol" instead.)

As an aside, how about this great quote from The Note?

Bill Clinton said seven years ago that the era of big government is over, but somehow, under the ministrations of this conservative-minded and big-hearted Republican President, it seems to be back.

It'll be interesting to see how that plays with the GOP base.

Posted January 29, 2003 03:22 PM | Comments (25)