LATimes: Electorate Divided on Bush Re-Election, Poll Finds

[RamboLiberal]

http://www.latimes.com/news/custom/timespoll/la-na-poll20nov20,1,3774962.story?coll=la-home-headlines

While most Americans view President Bush as a strong leader and say they like him personally, doubts about his performance and agenda have produced an electorate divided almost in half on whether he deserves a second term, a Los Angeles Times Poll has found.

The survey, coming one year before the 2004 election, shows that Americans remain split over Bush along many of the same lines of gender, race and cultural values that separated the country during his razor-thin victory over Democrat Al Gore in 2000.

When the poll asked registered voters if Bush deserves re-election, 42 percent said yes and 46 percent said no, a difference within the survey's margin of sampling error of plus or minus three percentage points. When asked if they were more likely to support Bush or the Democratic nominee in 2004, voters again lined up in almost equal camps, with the president trailing 38 percent to 42 percent, also within the margin of error.

The survey suggests two distinct tensions in public opinion could shape Bush's political fate.

On one axis, voters appear to be weighing generally positive assessments of his personal characteristics -- from likability and leadership to honesty -- against a more ambivalent view of his policies and their impact on the country.

[Gloria]

1. Wake up America!! He's screwing you as he's "charming" you....

God, when do people start considering their own futures?

And what's this about "honesty" after he lied his way to Iraq????

[Cush]

2. um

They have doubts about his performance & agenda, but they think he's a strong leader?

Make sense to anyone else?

[ninkasi]

3. It seems as if...

there are two different species living in the U.S. now. Some of us find him so repulsive he triggers a gag reflex, while others find him, for reasons I have yet to fathom, even likable. Kind of like a male rattlesnake would find a female rattlesnake really sexy, while the rest of us would be repulsed. I don't know. I can't understand anything but aversion to him.

[Mountainman]

4. More like the male and female praying mantis

He finds her charming as they engage in the act of pleasure then she bites his head off!

[waywest]

5. The masses just need a distraction....

W for baseball commissioner!

It's what he really wanted all along. Just get him the hell out of Washington.

[pinniped]

6. Some of those stupid Repubican morons dislike Democrats so much that...

they are willing to tolerate anything this Pachydermic ASSHOLE does.

Likeable? Honesty? About as likeable as an army of cockroaches.:puke:

[dusty64]

7. Honesty, leadership,

likeability ..... :puke: give me a break. All this shows is that we've got to do a MUCH better job of getting the truth out there. Besides pushing a positive agenda that benefits the People and the Planet the nominee must connect the dots showing the TRUTH of our regime and their endless lies. The media sure ain't gonna do it for us.

[kodi]

8. george bush is the joe isuzu of politics, trust him and go poor.

let's face it, those who are politically active know he is full of shit, but most people dont spend much time separating the wheat from the chaff in politics and all they know is what the tv tells them tp know.

[DeepModem Mom]

9. 2/3 find Bush likeable, including 3/5 of Dems....

Notice this line?

Two-thirds of Americans said they find Bush likable — including just under three-fifths of Democrats.

[HereSince1628]

10. Help me out...42+3=45, 46-3=43, aren't 42 and 46 outside +/- 3?

How many standard deviations are in a margin of error?