Paint CHiPs
Viva Le Me
Registered: Jul 2000
Location: Location Location
Posts: 26385 |
 Off-Season Polls
First up:
quote:
Most Americans now believe the war with Iraq was not worth fighting and more than half want to fire embattled Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, the chief architect of that conflict, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll.
The survey found that 56 percent of the country now believes that the cost of the conflict in Iraq outweighs the benefits, while 42 percent disagreed. It marked the first time since the war began that a clear majority of Americans have judged the war to have been a mistake.
While a slight majority believe the Iraq war contributed to the long-term security of the United States, 70 percent of Americans think these gains have come at an "unacceptable" cost in military casualties. This led 56 percent to conclude that, given the cost, the conflict there was "not worth fighting" -- an eight-point increase from when the same question was asked this summer, and the first time a decisive majority of people have reached this conclusion.
Bush lavished praise on Rumsfeld at a morning news conference yesterday, but the Pentagon chief who soared to international celebrity and widespread admiration after the terrorist attacks three years ago can be glad he answers to an audience of one. Among the public, 35 percent of respondents approved of his job performance, and 52 percent said Bush should give Rumsfeld his walking papers.
A total of 1,004 randomly selected Americans were interviewed Dec. 16 to 19. The margin of sampling error for the results is plus or minus three percentage points.
Source.
Gallup finds similarly:
quote:
Fifty-two percent of respondents to a new poll think Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld should resign amid recent criticism in Congress over his handling of the war in Iraq....
The secretary's approval rating has fallen from 71 percent in April 2003 at the height of the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq to 41 percent in the new survey.
As for Bush, 49 percent of respondents said they approved of the job the president is doing. That number is down from his November approval rating of 55 percent. Bush is the first incumbent president to have an approval rating below 50 percent one month after winning re-election. The question had a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.
Although some groups have questioned the validity of voting in Ohio and other states, a large majority -- 77 percent -- of poll respondents indicated they thought the overall presidential election was fair. Nineteen percent said they thought incidents of fraud aided Bush's re-election.
For the first time, a majority of 51% said they disapprove of the decision to go to war in Iraq. 58% said they disapprove of the way the United States has handled the Iraq situation over the past few months.
Sample size 1002. Source.
And, this one is kind of cute:
quote:
A Time magazine poll examined public views of George W. Bush compared with their views of the first President George Bush on which attributes more accurately describes each of them:
* Honest and trustworthy: The former president, by 37% to 19%.
* Understands the issues: The former president, by 43% to 25%.
* Likeable: The former president, by 38% to 28%.
* Has good judgment: The former president, by 43% to 21%.
* Sticks to positions, even if unpopular: The current president, by 56% to 16%.
In each category, the remainder of those polled said both, neither or not sure.
The Time-SRBI poll of 1,009 adults was taken Dec. 13-14. It has a margin of sampling error of 3 percentage points.
Bush is starting out his term as the most unpopular second term president in contemporary American history and the only high ranking cabinet member that he's retained, the majority of Americans think should resign.
That's mandate, baby.
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12-21-2004 05:26 AM
