MyDD :: Bush Meets Nixon

Bush Meets Nixon

by Matt Stoller, Mon Jan 22, 2007 at 07:37:19 PM EST

President Bush will deliver his State of the Union address Tuesday night to a nation that's strongly opposed to his plan for increasing troops in Iraq and deeply unhappy with his performance as president, according to a CBS News poll.

Mr. Bush's overall approval rating has fallen to just 28 percent, a new low, while more than twice as many (64 percent) disapprove of the way he's handling his job.

Two-thirds of Americans remain opposed to the president's plan for sending more than 20,000 additional U.S. troops to Iraq -- roughly the same number as after Mr. Bush announced the plan. And 72 percent believe he should seek congressional approval for the troop increase.

28 percent approve. 72 percent believe Bush should seek Congressional approval for troop increases. That adds up to 100.

Bush's approval is at 28, which is four points higher than Nixon's approval at his point of departure. Bush's disapproval is two points lower than Nixon's when he said 'the end'.

Tags: George Bush, Iraq, Richard Nixon (all tags)

Permalink :: 15 Comments :: Post a Comment

28% (none / 0)

As much as I'd love to believe it, I suspect that this poll is an outlier; see

http://politicalarithmetik.blogspot.com/ 2006/12/approval-of-president-bush-in-se cond.html

as a graph of major polls; low 30s is a more likely estimate of his present popularity.

Personally, I'm hoping for low 20s; that's when I'm guessing that we'll start to see serious action on Impeachment.

by Zimbel on Mon Jan 22, 2007 at 07:51:41 PM EST

It might be. (none / 0)

But then wouldn't it be just as likely that Nixon's lowest poll was a low outlier?

Jim Oberweis

by cilerder86 on Mon Jan 22, 2007 at 08:11:13 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Nixon (none / 0)

According to this site:

http://politicalarithmetik.blogspot.com/ 2005/11/presidential-approval-in-histori cal.html

Nixon was in the 20s for a number of months (9 or so).

by Zimbel on Mon Jan 22, 2007 at 08:27:43 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Low thirties... (none / 0)

...is still pretty damn bad.

So what's the threshold for Hillary to finally take a decisive stand against escalation? Five, ten percent?

by Master Jack on Mon Jan 22, 2007 at 08:15:18 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Low thirties... (none / 0)

I'm never sure quite what you people want from Hillary.

"Another problem we have...is that in election years we behave somewhat as primitive peoples do at the time of the full moon." --Harry Truman

by Steve M on Mon Jan 22, 2007 at 08:46:27 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Low thirties... (none / 0)

I'd like to see her unequivocally recant her pro-war vote in 2002. Even some Republicans have done that.

It's one thing to say that back then a congresscritter had no reason to mistrust Bush. I'm willing to forgive that massive lapse in judgement, because there were millions of Americans afflicted by that delusion at the time. But knowing what we know now, given what's become public knowledge in the intervening years, anyone who doesn't acknowledge that this war was a massive error in its concept (not just in its execution) isn't anybody who really should be taken seriously as a national leader.

If Hillary would just step out and say something like, "I trusted Bush to do the right thing in 2002. I made a terrible mistake. This war is wrong and we need to end it as soon as possible", she'd go a long way towards recovering her credibility around here. As of now, she's just reactively nibbling around the edges, trying to have it all both ways, and that's just not leadership.

But if she continues to refuse to recant her vote, the message she's sending is "this war was a good idea all along, just poorly carried out, and I might just pursue one or two more of these wars when I'm in office, only I'll do them right". And that's not anybody we should be giving the keys to the White House to.

by Master Jack on Mon Jan 22, 2007 at 09:17:53 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Bush Meets Nixon (3.00 / 2)

Yet watch all the pussy sycophantic, afraid-to-offend Democratic politicians clap like he's JFK at tomorrow's speech.

I don't know about y'all, but I am ready for Democrats to start spitting nails.

The country is just screaming for an effective, hard-nosed opposition. They should have one.

McCain is defining Obama, and Obama is neither defining himself, nor McCain. This is awful.

by jgarcia on Mon Jan 22, 2007 at 07:55:17 PM EST

Re: Bush Meets Nixon (none / 0)

by jcarl568 on Mon Jan 22, 2007 at 07:56:32 PM EST

Re: Bush Meets Nixon (none / 0)

Wait, he has not reached bottom yet. I think there is a good chance there will be a recession this year. The chances of this are particularly good if Bush attacks Iran, which he seems likely to do this spring. This will cause oil prices, which have been moderate because of the temperate spring, to spike, putting the last nail in the economic coffin. Bush will end at under 20%.

Andy Katz

by Andy Katz on Mon Jan 22, 2007 at 08:15:53 PM EST

Nothing to do with this at all, but... (none / 0)

It appears we've inadvertently Google bombed Duncan Hunter:

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q =Duncan+Hunter

by meekermariner on Mon Jan 22, 2007 at 08:55:27 PM EST

Once this number becomes a trend.... (none / 0)

McCain's wooing of Bush' financial backers might visibly buckle. They won't want to be associated with anything that smells too much of "extending" W's tenure.

by palamedes on Mon Jan 22, 2007 at 11:03:21 PM EST

Re: Bush Meets Nixon (none / 0)

This is fun but not quite correct. The Nixon numbers are Gallup poll data; the latest Gallup poll puts Bush at 34%. The 28% is American Research Group, which usually finds the lowest approval.

by drlimerick on Tue Jan 23, 2007 at 12:49:25 AM EST

Re: Bush Meets Nixon (none / 0)

I just emailed my representative asking him to sit on his hands whenever possible tonight and when any clapping is more or less the custom, to do the slow, rhythmic clapping the Brits do to register contempt and derision for the speaker.

Also, why isn't anyone talking about censuring Bush?

Mary Alice

by marya on Tue Jan 23, 2007 at 11:25:15 AM EST

Re: Bush Meets Nixon (none / 0)

Only one more point before Bush hits the Crazification Factor.

by kenfair on Tue Jan 23, 2007 at 12:27:00 PM EST

Re: Bush Meets Nixon (none / 0)

v1 v2 v3 v4 v5 v6 v7 v8 v9 v10 v11 v12 v13 v14 v15 v16 v17 v18 v19 v20 v21 v22 v23 v24 v25 v26 v27 v28 v29 v30 v31 v32 v33 v34 v35 v36 v37 v38 v39 v40 v41 v42 v43 v44 v45 v46 v47 v48 v49 v50 v51 v52 v53 v54 v55 v56 v57 v58 v59 v60 v61 v62 v63 v64 v65 v66 v67 v68 v69 v70 v71 v72 v73 v74 v75 v76 v77 v78 v79 v80 v81

by jgalagger on Tue Jun 26, 2007 at 11:56:36 AM EST

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