Santorum, Bush down in latest polls

The headline is misleading -- "Poll: Gay Remarks Don't Hurt Santorum".

It's true -- the latest Pennsylvania Q-poll has Santorum's approval ratings at 55 percent, the same as in April. However, his negatives are dramatically up -- from 20 percent in April to 33 percent now. His undecideds fell from 24 to 12 percent.

In other words, those who were already inclined to support him (mostly Republicans) were happy or unconcerned with his homophobic rantings. But independents and the politically apathetic -- those who couldn't be bothered to have an opinion of Santorum pre-outburst -- have weighed in heavily against Santorum.

Keep in mind Santorum is not facing reelection -- the question is whether his remarks might somehow rub off (positively or negatively) on Specter -- who is facing an increasingly strong primary challenge to his right.

Meanwhile, Bush's numbers are falling faster than could reasonably have expected. The latest NBC/WSJ poll shows a whopping 9-point drop from last month, from 71 percent approval to 62 percent. Considering that reelect numbers usually hover around 15 points lower than approval numbers, that would put his "definitely reelect" numbers at around 47. Still potent, no doubt, but the trend is downward.

Posted May 22, 2003 07:51 AM | Comments (69)