The latest poll from Survey USA has Bush now at 37 approve, 60 disapprove. Not too different from what we’ve been seeing, but these results break down by state, and I think they’re breathtaking. They go a long way to explain the sudden seeing of the light by GOP and DINO pols.
According to the survey, Bush gets positive ratings in only 4 states: Idaho, Utah, Mississippi, and Montana — and even his Mississippi numbers, 48/50, are statistically a dead heat.
Maybe I haven’t been paying attention, but I find these numbers absolutely amazing. Bush is way down in places like Indiana (45/53), Texas (44/52)!, and South Dakota (45/53). And take a look at these red state shockers: Nevada, 39/59. Missouri, 38/60. Florida, 37/61. Ohio, 36/63.
These are landslide numbers, and they they are as wide as they are deep. Except for 3 states, GOP incumbents across the country are gonna have to try their damndest to distance from the Regime next year. Nobody should be talking about which congressional seats are in play any more. They all are, and the Dems need to act accordingly.
According to the Diageo/Hotline poll also released today, even the Republican base is beginning to show signs of cracking, with 41% of self-identified GOPers saying that things in this country are going seriously off on the wrong track. The highest figure ever previously recorded under Bush was 29%. Overall, 66% said that we’re on the wrong track (84% among Dems and 76%(!) among independents).
Surprisingly, even 11% of Republicans think that the country would be better off if the Democrats controlled Congress. Only 8% of independents said the same thing in the GOP’s favor, while 37% thought that it would be better for the Dems to control Congress. Oddly, though, this didn’t entirely carry through to the generic congressional ballot, where the Dems only held a six-point edge, down from nine points a month ago.
Here are PDFs of the complete poll results with the questions, and of the press release.
It’s all becoming a steady barrage of bad news for the Administration and the GOP. As we head into the holiday season, it doesn’t seem as though they’ll have too much to be thankful for.
Besides slamming Bush (as much fun as that is these days) we need to follow Governor Dean’s lead and define to the voting public who we are. If they continue to perceive us as the folks who are just against Bush, we could lose a great, perhaps the last, opportunity to take the country back. I agree with you though, we do indeed have a unique opportunity. We just need to work awfully hard in the next year to take control of Congress again. Then comes some oversight hearings, and perhaps impeachment!
My parents are coming up here to Minnesota for Thanksgiving from Dallas. They are part of the really hard core Bush supporters and fundamentalist Chritian crowd. We don’t usually talk politics, its just too emotionally charged for all of us. But I’m a little curious/nervous about where they might be these days and if they will initiate any conversation about it.
As an example of how “hard core” my dad is, he supported Nixon even past the resignation. He only questioned him when the tapes were transcribed into book form and he could see how much Nixon swore!!
So I expect dad to still be spouting the hardcore position, but it might be interesting to see if he’s nervous.
Don’t argue… just quietly point out how this administration does not practice Christian principles. They are using religion but not practicing it. be gentle with that point though. No one likes to be told or learn that they’ve been had. They need to come to that conclusion by themselves and find peace with it. The bush administration is incompetent and doesn’t practice what they preach. Those are the two inroads to fundamentalists I think.
Oh – I gave up a LONG time ago trying to bring them out of the dark side. Maybe someone or something has a chance to change them – but I’d say it is one of those “cold day in hell” cases.
I’m just curious how they’re taking the sudden change from the attitude of “we won the election and have political capital” to our current situation.
These fundies have an unbelievable capacity for rationalization. I’m wondering how that works for them these days. Maybe I’ll write a diary on where I see them now after the Thanksgiving weekend is over and I have some peace and quiet again.
I have fundie relatives that I’m no longer in touch with. While I was, we might as well have come from different planets. Maybe you can finally shed some light on what goes on in these peoples’ heads.
Ya, last month this poll had only 11 states with Bush above 50. Florida, Texas and Ohio are particularly satisfying as are the low populations of the now 4 states in which he ranks above 50.
I wish someone would write a book called, ‘What’s the matter with Mississippi?’
New Mexico. Ohio. Bush (and perhaps republicans) are in big trouble. Heh heh.
… and it is also very interesting to click on the state tracking links and watch the trends. You can see that for many of these states there was a cross over point and that the gap of disapproval has simply widened since then. In other words, this is no fluke and there is no recovery on the horizon.
I also like the idea of Oklahama as a battleground state.