Bush Poll Numbers Continue Their Freefall

Posted on June 16, 2005

The new CBS News/New York Times poll came out today and the news is bad for Bush. Six months into his second term, his "political capital" account appears about to be overdrawn.

Only 39 percent approve of his handling of the economy.
Only 39 percent approve of his handling of foreign policy.
Only 37 percent approve of his handling of the war in Iraq.
Only 25 percent approve of his handling of Social Security.
Only the campaign against terrorism gets the approval of more than half those questioned.
The biggest drop off is among Americans aged 30 to 44. In just the past month, his approval rating in that group has fallen 14 points. In the most serious split over the president's Iraq policy, two Republican House members joined with Democrats Thursday urging President Bush to start bringing U.S. troops home from Iraq in October of 2006.
[I]t is another crack in the once iron grip President Bush held over Congress. His Social Security plan is stalled, his energy bill languishing, his nominee for U.N. ambassador uncertain. And he's threatened to veto two measures passed by the Republican-controlled House -- on stem cell research and limitations to the Patriot Act.

Republican congressmen and women aren't stupid. They know that Iraq and the economy will loom large in the midterms. As will social security, stem cell research and an uneasiness over the Schiavo debacle. It's time to distance themselves from the White House's unpopular positions on these issues.