CNN’s post-speech polls show some good news for President Bush on immigration. Bush’s attempt to put himself above the fray was probably the politically smart thing to have done.
A Win For Bush
Published
CNN’s post-speech polls show some good news for President Bush on immigration. Bush’s attempt to put himself above the fray was probably the politically smart thing to have done.
I think you’re taking the cons word for it instead of thinking on your own. Directly from the story that talks about the poll:”People who watch the speech do tend to be somewhat more Republican than the voters as a whole,” CNN senior political analyst Bill Schneider said. “But that wasn’t the best response he’s gotten compared to other speeches, in fact it was lower than any speech we’ve measured since he took office.”(emphasis mine)
Actually, the sample of people surveyed was 41% Republican and 23% Democrat. Given that Americans as a whole Americans define themselves as 36% Democrat and 33% Republican, you’re looking at a sample that favors Republicans by 21 points.
Thanks for trying to pull one over on us. I’ll be around to keep you honest.
A good try, but Bush’s first needs to shore up that Republican base, so even if the poll skews Republican (which does seem true), that’s not bad news for the President. Secondly, the fact that Bush’s ratings on immigration jumped 25 points among those polled, which is a rather good indicator of overall success.
Where Schneider got his figures from is beyond me, as CNN’s own data shows the speech getting a 79% approval rating, which is certainly not bad at all, and certainly not the lowest he’s gotten – I can think of a few of his addresses (stem cells and Katrina) that got a significantly more mixed response.
Will it help Bush’s overall ratings? Probably not enough to matter much. If Bush were running for reelection this year or 2008, he’d be in deep, deep trouble. However, he is not, and the unimportant issue of his approval ratings aren’t really all that relevant or interesting. Given Bush’s record on everything but taxes and the war, having him as a lame duck for the next two years isn’t a particularly frightening prospect for anyone.