Face Time For POTUS Makes A Difference

A new USAToday/Gallup poll has the President's approval rating up to 44%. As I've always said, Bush isn't on the ballot so the influence of this statistic on the results of November 7 has its limits.

But there really is only one major reason for the uptick: Republican voters, who've expressed their dissatisfaction with Bush on many issues, are starting to see the forest for the trees. The issue of the Global War on Terror is THE issue and it trumps everything else.

Bush's approval rating edged up largely on the strength of Republicans coming back to the fold with 86 percent saying they support him now, compared to 70 percent in May, USA Today said.

For the first time since December 2005, a majority of people polled did not say the war in Iraq was a mistake. The respondents were evenly split at 49 percent to 49 percent, the report said.

However, the poll finds that the Iraq war continues to be a problem for Bush. Sixty percent said he does not have a clear plan for handling Iraq and 75 percent said Iraq is in a civil war, USA Today said.

This does not mean, however, that 60 percent are in favor of the only alternative that the Democrats are floating: cut and run. Many voters that make up Bush's base of support have felt that we've not been aggressive enough in Iraq or that the President was allowing the Democrats to chip away at his (and by extension, the nation's) resolve to finish the job.

The White House has spent the last couple of weeks putting that fear to rest. The President's strategy - as it was in 2002 and 2004 - is to double down on his policies that have kept the country attack-free since 9/11. Republicans candidates would do well to get on board. If they do, then the GOP's superior Get-Out-The-Vote (GOTV) machine will ensure Republican retention of both chambers of Congress.

Jim Geraghty at NRO takes a closer look at the numbers.

Posted by: Gary at 09:15 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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