Thursday, October 16, 2003 :::
President's Approval Rating
Lee points out that Bush's approval rating has gone back up to 56%, but he feigns shock that it's not getting as much media attention as when it fell from 59% in August to 50% in September.
Of course the CNN article he refers to points out that this increase is mainly due to "big gains among men and among high-income Americans." Of course, the wealthy who benefitted from Bush's tax cuts.
The Washington Post leads with "President Rallying Support in Polls," but refers more to their own Washington Post/ABC News poll showing his approval rating at 53%, "statistically unchanged from the end of last month, and 5 percentage points down from mid-September." But rather than indicate a rise in approval rating, they claim that his "six month slide may have ended."
The Times of India reports the CNN/Gallup poll, sounding more positive than our own papers, and includes possible reasons for the upturn. "Gallup Executive Editor Frank Newport... pointed to signs of an improving economy, including the uptick in the stock market; the Bush administration lobbying on Iraq and media coverage of the California recall election that pushed criticism of the president off the front pages."
The Washington Times reports "Bush's approval numbers on the rise" and of course indicates a more optimistic view of this poll for the President.
Newsmax.com says "the recent poll, conducted Oct. 10-12, shows the president's standing with the public improving."
Then the Australian Financial Review leads "Bush's Popularity Dips," claiming "the USA Today CNN poll... pegged Bush's overall popularity rating at 56 percent, a drop of 4 percentage points compared with an early August poll," completely ignoring polls from September when his approval dropped to 50%.
Interesting how some view it as a continued decline, some see an end to the decline and others view it as the beginning of an increase. Is one side wishing too hard to see the negative or is the other side wishing too hard to see the positive? You decide.
::: posted by Melissa at 10/16/2003 10:23:00 AM
