AP, Gallup: Congress’s approval rating as bad as, or worse than, Bush’s
posted at 11:11 am on May 15, 2007 by Allahpundit
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Gallup’s got Congress down four points from last month to 29% while Bush is holding steady at 33%; AP has them all even at 35%. Proof that Americans are unhappy with the Democrats’ push for withdrawal? Maybe not. From Gallup:
They’re down across the board, but the sharpest decline is among Democrats themselves. Why would that be? Well, here are two more results from recent polls, the first CNN/Gallup and the second USA Today/Opinion Research:
The right is disgusted with Congress for trying to surrender but it may be the left is equally disgusted with them for not trying to surrender fast enough. If you’re getting it from both sides like that, it stands to reason your approval’s going to drop. They also got outmaneuvered on the veto battle, as this question from the earlier CNN/Gallup poll indicates:
The veto came on May 1st, after the last poll on approval ratings was taken but and before this one was, so you’re surely seeing some of the fallout here of the Dems’ refusal to fund the troops. It’ll be interesting to see what the next poll looks like if Bush goes ahead with his threat to veto the new bill, too. I fear a boomerang.
Finally, it’s worth noting that the highest approval rating Congress has had in the last few years was only 44%, according to the AP-Ipsos crosstabs. The president’s numbers will move with his reaction to world events, but with both parties present in Congress and forced to compromise, it’s hard to please anyone. If Congress is in the low 40s, it’s doing passably well; if the president’s in the low 40s, eh.
Exit question: Should this worry Pelosi, notwithstanding the fact that her own approval rating is in the mid-40s?
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First!
SicSemperTyrannus on May 15, 2007 at 11:13 AM
What did these dolts expect? They’ve undermined our war effort; put our soldiers at risk; provided aid and comfort to our enemies; and, accomplished absolutely nothing else of any value. It’s a wonder that their numbers are not in the negative range.
rplat on May 15, 2007 at 11:16 AM
Doesn’t surprise me. This is one of those ‘meet the new congress, same as the old congress’ to the mainstream. Which isn’t entirely an unfair asssessment, they are and were a bunch of f*ckups.
Bad Candy on May 15, 2007 at 11:16 AM
Re this issue. I think we are seeing the beginning of a wave of discontent and anger from the military against Bush and the administration. We’ll see, but if I am right, W will be to the Republican party in this century what Hoover was in the last.
Totally off subject: A/P check out this week’s New Yorker. Very interesting article on the super collider. (Well the parts I could understand were interesting…..)
honora on May 15, 2007 at 11:18 AM
If the drivebys reported even half of the truth about the Dems their numbers wouldn’t even be that high. War profiteer Diane Feinstein, Pelosi’s passage of the revival of the Embarcadero to benefit her nearby property holdings, William Jefferson’s cash in the freezer, and on and on. But to the public only Cheney and Halliburton are war profiteers because they get their news from Democrat co-conspirators of the press.
As for Pelosi, her numbers confirm that she is a true giant among pygmies.
pistolero on May 15, 2007 at 11:22 AM
Honora, as a military member I’m not happy with the Bush admin. However, I’m downright p*ssed at the Democrats in Congress. The DoD was fighting the war in Iraq as though it was a foregone conclusion while the Dems are using the coffins of my fellow servicemembers as soapboxes to push their vile message.
I’m not happy with anyone in the government. But, it will be a cold day in hell before I vote any far-left Democrat into office.
JasonG on May 15, 2007 at 11:25 AM
Wait what? Why would they be pissed at Bush? Its the Dems that have done their damnedest to sap public morale and to force their loss, as well as cut their funding, and the troops know it. Maybe a few of the older higher ups might hate him, but I doubt the regular guys do. honora, what the hell are you smoking?
Bad Candy on May 15, 2007 at 11:25 AM
AP/Ipsos showed the same thing, as of May 11.
amerpundit on May 15, 2007 at 11:26 AM
Well, maybe I’m wrong on some not being thrilled with the admin, but as JasonG shows, they really f*cking hate the left, so again, don’t get your hopes up honora.
Bad Candy on May 15, 2007 at 11:29 AM
Congress can fix its perception problem by funding the Troops without any surrender dates.
Also, maybe they can do something about the islamic terrorist training camps right here in the U.S. calling for jihad against America. Bush has had seven years of dhimmis trying to tie his hands on domestic terror issues. I just saw a report on Fox about an armed camp, um, town, called “Islamberg” where only muslims are allowed, they have a jihadi training center and illegal weapons. Bush and Congress can *both* have better ratings by geting on this issue BEFORE these guys attack and kill innocent civilians. If it were a “right wing militia” the dems would be all over it, but it’s islamic so they can’t “offend” them and that’s what we expect from the dhimmi left but what’s Dubya’s excuse? Other than lefties gettin’ in the way and protecting their jihadi brethren?
Tony737 on May 15, 2007 at 11:29 AM
Did I miss something? Congress, run by Democrats, has the same approval rating as President Bush. Where in the post did it mention discontent with the President, by the troops? The one poll shows that the more of the public blames Congress for not funding, than Bush. Like I said, maybe I missed something.
amerpundit on May 15, 2007 at 11:30 AM
and this is the only place you’ll hear about it
mfnorman on May 15, 2007 at 11:33 AM
From the military? Based on what?
aengus on May 15, 2007 at 11:35 AM
Why would Congressional ratings be any better? It’s been a long time since they addressed real, pressing issues in the interest of the country. Instead, they’re a bunch of partisan hacks unwilling to negotiate or compromise on any issue; only concerned about reelection. Notice I said Congress. Repub or Dem. Neither are worth a damn.
For God’s sake. Our legislators have done nothing about securing the future of social security and medicade/medicare. Nothing serious about alternate energy sources or lessening our dependence on foreign oil sources. They do not seriously police their own members and enact regulations, policies and provide benefits only applicable to them.
They are totally, utterly out of touch with regular Americans. The real shame is their approval rating could drop to 1% and it wouldn’t matter to them. They’re in, they’re elected, and nothing else matters because the “American people” won’t take them to task.
BacaDog on May 15, 2007 at 11:36 AM
As of late, they haven’t even been addressing the issues of interest to Moveon.org.
amerpundit on May 15, 2007 at 11:47 AM
OT (sorta kinda) question:
Can we have a thread about what would constitute as “winning” the war in Iraq?
These rating/Gallup/opinion polls are just so stupid.
Tru2my2 on May 15, 2007 at 11:51 AM
I hate to say it, but to a certain extent Honora may be correct, the troops are probaly getting less and less happy with Bush as time goes on…
But she doesn’t get the reason.
An effective politician and public policy would be ramping up media to help them, not the enemy. That the Dems are taking talking points from the enemy, and Bush seems unable to call them on it, is an indictment of his effectivness.
The military mindset is ALL about effect… not about appearence… if your not effective, as Bush is prooving himself, then the Military will not respect you.
90K in a freezer.. no indictment… All kinds of leaks to the NYT… no indictment… Congress surrendering… no real battle… No border security, or talk thereof, even after “illegal immigrants” plan a terrorist attack….
Prob is not outlook… or mission… but effectivness.
Romeo13 on May 15, 2007 at 11:58 AM
JasonG has agreement form me also. Have mil members in the family and know about a dozen or so that have been in Iraq, some more than once. I don’t hear anything from them about being angry or discontent with ‘W’. Even the friends I have that are still in tell me it much the same as it was in the mid 70’s. The media and congress seem to be the only one’s thinking that we lost or are losing. Same playbook diff. game. It was disgusting then and still is. Dog gone dhimmies. Wish they would stop the propaganda and get on our side.
mjkazee on May 15, 2007 at 11:58 AM
Wish they would stop the
propagandacrap and get on our side.mjkazee on May 15, 2007 at 12:02 PM
I think its safe to say that the majority of Americans just don’t like politicians.
Stevel on May 15, 2007 at 12:04 PM
Zinni, Clark, Batiste, Powell, Eaton, McCaffrery. The Krepinevich report.
Last year’s Zogby poll of soldiers in Iraq–70% say get out
http://www.zogby.com/news/ReadNews.dbm?ID=1075
That’s off the top of my head.
honora on May 15, 2007 at 12:04 PM
It is interesting but it does frame the Dems mind set. In the mean time, these are the top 4 concerns of the voters (listed in priority)
Corruption – You know they won’t do anything about that.
Terrorism – What Terrorism? They ask.
Economy – Actually, the ecomony is doing fine and they are still trying to tell everyone that it isn’t.
Iraq – Blame Bush – Yep, that’s the one we will go after. By the way, we voted for the war before we voted against it so, we are okay.
I think that there are those out there who voted for the Dems “To teach a lesson” to the Republicans. It looks like that lesson teaching has gone wrong and I am sure there are regrets.
BobK on May 15, 2007 at 12:04 PM
I don’t know why I continue to make this point, it’s apparently too difficult to understand: the majority of Dems voted against the war. Look it up. Not that that’s the issue, it’s the blithe disregard of facts that irks me.
honora on May 15, 2007 at 12:08 PM
There were some serious questions about the legitimacy of that Zogby poll IIRC, both the sample polled and who funded it, honora. Again, I figured a good number of brass would be unhappy with the war, so that comes as no shock, so again, you have what I gave you, the brass, and a shady poll, which proves nothing, so try again.
Bad Candy on May 15, 2007 at 12:12 PM
Hmm, is that the same Zogby whose exit polls predicted a comfortable Kerry win in ‘04? And who is also a contributing blogger at HuffPo?
Rick on May 15, 2007 at 12:13 PM
That might be Honora’s hope, but it is not based on facts:
1) Our economy is in excellent shape; 2) The Democratic Party today is the Socialist Party, not the party of Roosevelt, Truman, and JFK; 3) Count the number of terrorist attacks we had with Clinton to President Bush since 9/11; 4) Terrorists actively campaign for Democrats because they know who will be best for America’s decline.
Soldiers know this, so Democrats will never be the beneficiaries of any discontent among soldiers, a discontent that Honora imagines rather than being real.
januarius on May 15, 2007 at 12:14 PM
Actually, you’re only right in the House. In the Senate 29 voted in favor, 21 against. In the House, 83 in favor, 126 against.
amerpundit on May 15, 2007 at 12:16 PM
Doesn’t include two of the top three Dem presidential candidates who can’t seem to get out of their own way fast enough when that topic comes up.
Rick on May 15, 2007 at 12:17 PM
“Last year’s Zogby poll of soldiers in Iraq–70% say get out”
In the mean time, all branches of the service have hit 100% to 140% of their re-enlistment goals. A majority were the troops in the sand-box.
Do you think that it was for the cash or maybe something YOU don’t understand honora. These troops do feel that they can win.
BobK on May 15, 2007 at 12:18 PM
OK, honora. I did look it up–as you ordered–and it shows that in 2002, a significant number of Dems did vote for the war:
Senate approves Iraq war resolution
77-23 in the Senate and 296-133 in the House–Ergo, it’s not possible that a “majority of Dems voted against the war” unless you learned math at one of our fine public schools.
Jen the Neocon on May 15, 2007 at 12:19 PM
Why, yes. Yes it is. It’s the same Zogby who predicted Kerry carrying 50 more electoral votes, than Bush. Final result? Bush carrying 35 more than Kerry.
amerpundit on May 15, 2007 at 12:19 PM
Tru2, winning in Iraq means destroying Saddam’s army. Done. Finding and killing Uday and Qusay. Done. Holding elections. Done. Creating a consititution. Done. Capturing, trying and hanging Saddam. Done. Taking and holding towns, still working on it. Killing jihadis, still working on it. Training the new Iraqi Army to replace our own, still working on it.
Turning over sections of Iraq to their new army, still working on it. Once we have trained enough Iraqi soldiers to take our place and have turned over ALL Areas of Operation to them and they no longer need us, it’s over and our guys can come home. Same thing applies to Afghanistan but that will take longer.
(There’s a lot more to it than a simple paragraph on a website comment board, obviously).
Tony737 on May 15, 2007 at 12:20 PM
Icertainly dont give Mullah Zogby much credibility. His brother works for a sister station of Al Jazeera and Zogby’s polls are mostly arab talking points.
Meanwhile Rasmussen has had Bush at 37 to 39 % for months. It isnt as low as others have him (notible pro democratic rags.)
http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/political_updates/president_bush_job_approval
William Amos on May 15, 2007 at 12:20 PM
No, they didn’t Honora.
There were 50 Democrats in the Senate when HJ114 was passed. 29 voted yes, 21 no.
BacaDog on May 15, 2007 at 12:22 PM
As usual, Honora is half correct. That’s about 50 percent better than *most* libs. Credit where credit is due.
Tony737 on May 15, 2007 at 12:26 PM
What was the Democratic/Republican/Independent/Other breakdown? If half-again as many Democrats were sampled than Republicans, then the positive rating is overstated.
chsw
chsw on May 15, 2007 at 12:30 PM
If W vetoes a second time, there won’t be a boomerang, as this is the converse of the 1995 gov’t shutdown. People sided with Clinton on multiple vetoes then because they don’t follow politcs much, but they believed the Clinton really wanted the gov’t running more than the GOP Congress. Here, people still don’t follow politics much, but believe that W is more interested in funding the troops than the Dem Congress, because they know W is more interested in funding the war than Congress is.
And btw, this shows the limitations of the “support the troops/oppose the war” rhetoric.
Karl on May 15, 2007 at 12:51 PM
honora, that was not re: this issue. Let’s stick to the topic instead of trying to tell me what I think about President Bush…The Democrat majority Congress has worse approval ratings than the President does. Deal with it.
James on May 15, 2007 at 12:52 PM
This poll has problems to it; so its results are dubious. Summed up here:
http://www.mysterypollster.com/main/2006/02/the_zogby_poll_.html
And even the group that financed it (an anti-war group) as well as the fact that the hard data is not available; makes the poll highly suspect.
lorien1973 on May 15, 2007 at 12:53 PM
Bush fixed the poll, democrats want an investigation.
Wade on May 15, 2007 at 12:56 PM
My statement:
stands. 112 for, 147 against.
honora on May 15, 2007 at 1:00 PM
This poll has problems to it; so its results are dubious. Summed up here:
I see. And AP and USA Today, you’re fine with them, right?
honora on May 15, 2007 at 1:04 PM
You’re kidding, right?
Jen the Neocon on May 15, 2007 at 1:15 PM
Congress has low approval ratings? Shocking!
When did they ever have high approval?
SouthernDem on May 15, 2007 at 1:25 PM
Well said.
SouthernDem on May 15, 2007 at 1:27 PM
Of course Honora, I would expect no less from you. My husband is pissed at the Dims for their statements that the war is lost and sending up a bill they knew W would veto. What is wrong with you? Why you’re always so negative against those who aren’t in the medical corps like your husband. I don’t know anyone and I mean anyone and I know a lot of people who do the grunt work in the Army, Navy, Air Force & Marines who are unhappy with W. It’s the dims they hate. Of course half of the Dims are anti-war anyway when a Republican is in the White House. Now, if it’s your hero Clinton they’re right on board. Why are we still there Honora? I mean you’re so smart and everything so you always tell us, why aren’t the Muslims more thankful for our saving their butts in Kosovo & Bosnia? Well, you can be happy with yourself in your ivory tower telling us all how wonderful you are and how wonderful the dims are and how you just know the military hates W. Keep dreaming.
Catie96706 on May 15, 2007 at 1:59 PM
My goodness, all those voices in your head. Must be exhausting. LOL.
honora on May 15, 2007 at 2:18 PM
Well yes and no. My point is, everyone jumps all over the Zogby poll I reference, but seem quite content to swallow whole the USAT and AP polls referenced by Allahpundit–even though these are bastions of the heinous , never to be trusted, MSM.
Well which is it?
honora on May 15, 2007 at 2:21 PM
Out of the Ivory Tower yet? LOL
Can you answer me why we’re still in Kosovo & Bosnia? Can you tell me why it is the Dims are anti-war when a Republican is in the White House? Of courese not. Also, when can we expect those thanks from the Muslims who we lost people over in both those places? crickets????
Catie96706 on May 15, 2007 at 2:29 PM
bastions of the heinous , never to be trusted, MSM.
Jen the Neocon on May 15, 2007 at 2:45 PM
It was only a matter of time. The dems have always been on a short leash
Opinionnation on May 15, 2007 at 3:12 PM
These kind of polls aren’t worth the paper their printed on. If Nancy is over 40% it proves how worthless.
duff65 on May 15, 2007 at 3:58 PM
Not in the US Army I am in…maybe you are in a different force, honora?
major john on May 15, 2007 at 5:52 PM
What do you guys want Bush to say?
tomas on May 15, 2007 at 5:57 PM
Honora: “I think we are seeing the beginning of a wave of discontent and anger from the military against Bush and the administration.”
I think Honora is full of leftwing crap, as usual.
And given Honora’s absolute silence on the 3 troopers held by Al Qaeda, and given her loyalties, one has to ask: Did she do a “fist pump” with a loud “yes” when the news of the adbudction came out, or did she simply do a “high five” instead?
georgej on May 15, 2007 at 7:34 PM
yeP. I believe it.
Bush is amazingly getting things done but half our fight is against ourselves.
johnnyU on May 15, 2007 at 10:14 PM
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