Poll Numbers Dropping for Bush and Congress

Posted on May 19, 2005

MSNBC reports on the latest NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll, and the numbers are not good news for either President Bush or Congress. The American public is unhappy with Bush, Congress and the priorities they are pursuing. A majority of Americans think that Congress should be focusing on the economy, gas prices and healthcare, not privatizing Social Security or battling over judges. In fact, a majority of Americans want the Senate to decide the fitness of each nominee to be a judge on its own and not just rubber stamp the White House's nominations. That's not good news for Frist and the anti-filibusterers.

The survey, which polled 1,005 adults from May 12-16 and has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points, also has some troubling findings for President Bush. Just 20 percent of those polled say the economy has gotten better over the past 12 months, an 11- point decline since January; 51 percent believe that removing Saddam Hussein from power was not worth the cost and casualties of that war; and only 36 percent support Bush�s plan to allow workers to invest their Social Security contributions in the stock market.
Most don't support blanket approval for judges That Social Security figure, which is virtually unchanged from April, is significant because it suggests that Bush hasn�t moved the country any closer to supporting private accounts despite his months-long campaign for them.
Regarding the contentious debate over Bush�s judicial nominees, just 34 percent say the Senate should generally confirm the president�s judicial picks as long as they are honest and competent, while 56 percent argue that the Senate should make its own decision about the fitness of each nominee to serve.
Overall, according to the NBC/Journal poll, 52 percent believe the nation is headed in the wrong direction, while 35 percent think it�s on the right track.
All of these findings, Hart says, are signs of an angry electorate. "If you are a member of Congress and you got the poll back, you better be looking over your shoulder," he said. "The masses are not happy."

This poll reports that 47% of Americans want the Democrats to take over Congress in 2006, versus 40% who want Republicans to stay in charge. It's still too early to say if those numbers will hold until the midterms. But one thing's for sure: if James Dobson continues his Svengali-like hold on Frist and the Senate's agenda, things could go ill for Republicans in 2006.