Harris: Keep Your Agenda, George

by DemFromCT

One of the highlights (or lowlights) of reading the morning papers (electronically or otherwise) is picking out the stories explaining us how well Republicans are doing. After all, fear is driving the House to approve CAFTA, and Congress as a whole will approve the pork-laden energy and transportation bills. Doesn't that prove just how together and on top of the world Republicans are?

Well, not according to the American people. Harris Interactive says:

• A majority (56%) of U.S. adults approve of the president’s position on  simplifying the tax code, compared to 28 percent who disapprove. This is down slightly from May when a 59 to 26 percent majority approved of his position on this issue.
• A 52 to 37 percent majority approves of President Bush’s position on making tax cuts permanent. This is similar to May when a 51 to 38 percent majority felt this way.
• While a significant 23 percent are not familiar with the president’s position on lawsuit reform, the public who are familiar with this issue splits as 40 percent approve of the president’s position and 36 percent disapprove. This has only slightly changed from May when a 42 to 35 percent plurality supported the president’s position on this issue.
• On his handling of energy policies, U.S. adults continue to rate the president negatively with a 51 to 35 percent majority disapproving of his policies. This is similar to the 50 to 37 percent negative rating he received in May.
• The public’s approval rating of President Bush’s environmental policies has also changed slightly in the past two months. About half (51%) of U.S. adults disapprove of the president’s position, while 36 percent approve, compared to May when 51 percent disapproved and 38 percent approved.
• Finally, on Social Security reform, a 59 to 34 percent majority disapproves of the president’s position. This is identical to the rating two months ago.

So on energy and environment, the public doesn't want to go the way the Presidentis taking them. And the public want nothing to do with the big enchilada, Social Security destruction, that Bush has made a highlight of his second term agenda. Everyone's for lower taxes. Some day, we'll have a real debate about the lower services that go with it. That won't look so pretty in the polls. And we know what the country thinks about stem cells, and it isn't the same as Bush.

The Gallup poll, Bush-friendly since 2000, says he's at his lowest approval ever at 44%. Is that an accident?

In the backdrop of the adminstration's strides, dissatisfaction is emerging among the public. A Gallup poll released Friday that put the Bush's approval rating at the lowest of his presidency -- 44 percent, with 51 percent disapproving of the job he is doing as president.

The syncophants can point all they want to about what Congress is up to and how it proves Bush's rough patch is over. It amounts to little more than driving closer to the cliff that Americans don't want to go over. We've already gone over the edge in Iraq. The idea that in 2006 no one will remember that the initiatives passed are not supported by the American people, or that health care remains in crisis, or that  we were lied to and  strong-armed in order to go to war... well, I'm looking forward to testing that theory.
 

allupGraphic from Polling Report:

Comments

[DemFromCT]

From the LA Times, a bit more balance:

Two days after he won election to a second term, President Bush told the nation he intended to spend the "political capital" he had amassed on ambitious goals: An overhaul of Social Security that would replace safety net guarantees with an "ownership society;" rewriting the Byzantine tax code; and revamping the legal system to crack down on medical malpractice lawsuits.

Six months into Bush's second term, none of those goals has been realized.

[Newsie8200]

A majority (56%) of U.S. adults approve of the president’s position on simplifying the tax code, compared to 28 percent who disapprove. This is down slightly from May when a 59 to 26 percent majority approved of his position on this issue.

I think all this really tells us is that Americans want the tax code to be simplified. It doesn't say how we'd get there or really put under a microscope on how tax code simplification would affect the average American and that gigantic national debt. Tax code simplification for some Congressional Republicans is a national sales tax, which Americans are definitely opposed to, even in the reddest of red states.

A 52 to 37 percent majority approves of President Bush’s position on making tax cuts permanent. This is similar to May when a 51 to 38 percent majority felt this way.

It'd be interesting to see how Americans would answer a question on making tax cuts permanent, if the choice were between making tax cuts permanent and erasing the record national debt. It's about choices, and one way Democrats can claim the mantle of fiscal responsibility is by pointing out that money doesn't grow on trees and that through disciplined spending and a sound tax policy America's fiscal health will be more stable.

[DemFromCT]

How about tax cuts made permanent vs preparing for pandemic flu? Let's be clear what tax cuts mean.

[DemFromCT]

BTW, here's the Gallup page.

Bush Approval at 44%
Lowest measurement of his presidency

[Newsie8200]

Tax cuts v. preparing for pandemic flu would be a clear cut choice, but not as effective, because the American public would think pandemic flu to be too science-ficyion-y.

National debt concerns cuts across party lines, and "record national debt" is a message that is repeated every month or so because of projections. The news coverage is easier to get.