Yes, I agree with that assessment. Liberals always put forth disingenuous ideas for public consumption that they really do not support. Lately they have discovered that they cannot let their agenda be known. However, the electorate is still generally conservative and thoughtful enough to see thru the charade.

I was just reading an article from Reuters about how the whole world wants the Pope to apologize for speaking ill in his comparison's of Islam. Of course, the friendly religious leadership in jihad land said that he must change his ideas and support Islam...'OR WE WILL KILL YOU!' ...well, not quite that boldly but with democrat like veiled threats.

Yeah, things are looking up for the Republicans in November!:)

"I was just reading an article from Reuters about how the whole world wants the Pope to apologize for speaking ill in his comparison's of Islam."-Posted by: dickdee

Yeah. Islamists raced to the media to condemn the Pope's comments about Islam and jihad. Islamists also raced to the media to condemn President Bush for calling Muslim terrorists, "Islamic fascists". Muslims around the world rioted and held weeks of demonstrations and killed people over the Muhammad cartoons published in Denmark. Yet, these same Islamists just can't bother themselves to condemn the thousands of Islamic terrorist attacks that have occurred all around the world in the past 5 years since 9/11. 9/11, Bali bombings, London's 7/7 tube bombings, daily terrorist attacks on Shiite Muslim civilians in Iraq, Madrid's 3/11 train bombings, Mumbai train bombings, and many more attacks = DEAFENING SILENCE from the majority of Muslims. But the Pope saying that spreading Islam by the sword is unacceptable, brings immediate cries of condemnation and outrage from Muslim leaders.

Muslim terrorism (bombing civilians, forced conversions to Islam, other mayhem) = silence from the Muslim majority.

Negative comments about Islam = screaming outrage from the Muslim majority.

Very telling.

Mark - its true the lefties dislike Bush, but you give them far too much credit for influencing the "average American". The average american doesn't pay anymore attention to lefties than they do to right wing extremists like yourself. That's the realm of political wonks who somehow enjoy the seething discomfort of monitoring life at the opposite extreme.

Perhaps Bush is more popular because so many conservative politicians are distancing themselves from him. People are starting to see the post-Bush light at the end of the tunnel - only 888 days left of this sickening mess.

"Its a poll of adults - meaning the rule of thumb would indicate that a poll of likely voters would give majority support to the President's job approval - that will become mighty important as November comes in."

Whats the rule of thumb?

A few of issues...

First of all, y'all know how I feel about polls... a majority of a segment of a population think a certain way... ooooh!! Let's change policy!

Another thing... According to the US Census Bureau, as of July, 2005, 72% of the population is over the age of 19 (making them adults). That would mean that about 214,671,155 (www.census.gov) people are "adults" in this country... and that doesn't include 18-19 year olds... that means that a survey of 1500 adults would include less than 0.0007% of the adult population. If 47% of respondents approve, that means that you are judging the opinions of about 107,335,578 people based on the feelings of about 705 people. I'm not saying that there is a feasible, better way... just pointing out how incredibly pointless polls are.

Anyways, Mr. Noonan (I think I have it right this time), do you have any basis (or atleast an impartial source that can corroborate that) for your claim that a 47% approval rating among adults indicates a majority approval rating among voters? Or are you just...guessing (or making irrational claims, whichever you prefer)?

Lastly, even with how inane polls are, there are certain things that a polling firm can do to at least make their polls more credible. One reason that I am not particularly fond of Rasmussen Reports is that they tend not to include their margin of error in their poll reports. If they have the average plus or minus 2-3% margin of error, then they should show that; if they have some crazy sample error like 7-10% or something, which one could logically conclude they do since they are not disclosing that information, then they need to reexamine their polling techniques.

Well, I just have to rag on one more thing. I am actually withholding my opinion on this subject, but just because a large minority, or even a majority of people approve of a President's performance in office, it does mean that that president is actually doing a good job... Clinton had pretty high approval ratings throughout his presidency and y'all think that he is two horns short of Satan.

Just some food for thought.

it's all about the gas price.

shortz

There are 3 categories that pollsters use. "adults," "registered voters," and "likely voters."

Using "adults" is the least accurate since half of adults don't vote so the rule of thumb is that you can add 2% to 3% to the approval number. The next level is "registered voters." This one is a little more accurate but just because you're registered doesn't mean you vote so you can add another 1% to 2% to the approval rating. The most accurate way to guage is "likely voters." These are people who have voted in the last 2 elections and claim they are going to vote in the upcoming election.

So, if you're looking to polling numbers of actual people that are going to vote Bush has an approval rating of 50% to 52%.

CJ-

How do you get that 1-2% per level?

Is it actually a defined measure (if so, please provide a cite), or is it simply arbitrary?

If the President's approval ratings are up, I'm puzzled by this. The situations in Iraq and Afghanistan have, if anything, deterioated lately. It is certainly not getting any better in Iraq, Afghanistan, or the GWOT. If anything, the results of the broader GWOT are not looking good right now. I'm sure we had rough spots in prior wars, like during WWII and still turned it around. In the GWOT, we are in a VERY rough spot right now. To pretend otherwise and put a happy face on it, is to delude oneself. With that said we can still turn this around and win.

The point is the President's signature issues of the GWOT and Iraq are not looking so good right now. With this in mind I would expect his popularity to be down even lower than it has been. The only two things that I can see that have changed are 1.) Gas prices have fallen sharply and are projected to fall further. 2.) The president has given a few speeches lately.

With regards to point 2 for every thirty minutes the president speaks the Democrats and the msm will spend several hours rebutting what he has said. As such, the speeches are unlikely to help his popularity very much.

The only thing I can figure that has made a difference in the president's approval rating is the decline in gas prices. Over this issue he has very little control!! I think President Clinton was right when he said it really is all about the economy. The irony of this is the economy is probably the area where the president has the least amount of control.

The Presidents increased approval may be "statisical noise." We will have to wait and see if this trend holds. There is still a long time until November. The fortunes can change very rapidly for either Republicans or Democrats between now and then. The races figure to be very interesting.

"I happened to be seated at a table next to a pack of lefties and they went on and on about how horrible Bush was - it was offensive to listen to."

On this, Mark, I will agree with you. It makes me very uncomfortable when either I'm at a table or near one where people are expressing strong political views.

The old rule is you never discuss politics or religion at the dinner table. And it's a good one. When it does happen, I usually do my best to temper any strong statements that offend anyone at the table. It may surprise some, but I've found myself, if not defending, going to bat for views that are opposite of mine.

The September 15th polls must not have been in when you posted this Mark. It's 45% to 53% now. Will it be a trend?

I liked the report on the right of that page, "Partisan Trends: Republicans Near Two-Year Low
36.8% Democrats, 32.8% Republicans"

I'm supporting Democrats because the Republicans(hijacked by neocons) are blind loyalists, backing an idiot. Yes, you bushbots are blind loyalists too, I wouldn't leave you out.

Deleted - commenting under false pretences.

Well said Marky Mark. If we spent half as much energy fighting the enemy as we do fighting each other, we'd be light years ahead in the GWOT.

Good luck and safe home.

The mistake that the dhimmicrats and the MSM make is assuming that 100% of those who disapprove of the job that President Bush is doing somehow translates into 100% cut and run votes for them.

What they fail to understand is that a portion of that percentage feel that he should be attacking harder and that he is going to easy on the enemy.

When push comes to shove in November, these votes will be Republican, and the dhimmicrats will wake up wondering how they lost.... again.

Tom,

I just steer the subject elsewhere - this was at a restraunt, however, so I was just stuck hearing the mindless twaddle.

The left hates Bush for good reasons, Mark. Unlike the Republicans who hate anyone who doesn't agree with their grand failing scheme of war, lies, and death.

Of those who approve of President Bush (45 percent as of today), only about half of them (23 percent) strongly approve while the rest somewhat approve. Of those who disapprove of President Bush (53 percent as of today), 38 percent of them strongly disapprove. The percentage of people who strongly disapprove of Bush is much greater than those who strongly approve. I would think that those who strongly approve or disapprove would be the ones most likely to vote.

I knew Marky mark was full of it!!! Thank you!

Looks like this was just a temporary bounce. Bush's approval rating is back down to 41 percent.