An Washington Post/ABCNews poll has revealed that President
Bush’s approval numbers aren’t moving much in the wake of Democratic efforts to place the blame for economic woes on him. 49% of those polled approve of Bush’s handling of the latest financial crises, despite constant criticism of his plans and past history.
Granted, polls are subjective, but this evidence proves that the Democrat’s efforts to talk down the economy and smear the Bush administration aren’t nearly as effective.as they thought they would be. Rather, the American people seem to see these incidences of corporate misconduct as individual failures rather than ones caused by government policy.
Does this mean that the GOP is out of the woods? Not hardly. Congressional Republicans need to be very worried about dealing with these issues in their districts. With these new scandals breaking, it’s congressional Republicans who need to be proactive in explaning these issues to their constituency. Luckily though, I don’t see corporate accounting as being a major issue in Congressional elections. National issues usually take a back seat to local issues in congressional elections anyway.
However, the Republican strategy of painting the Democrats as obstructionists who are talking down the economy might hold traction as long as they keep on the defensive. The Bush political team, led by Karl Rove and Ken Mehlman, do a great job of keeping the President on the forefront of the isues. Just being proactive and getting the message out is often one of the most important things in politics. If congressional Republicans can follow suit, the tendency for Presidential parties to lose congressional seats might be broken in this election cycle.
