Bush Credibility Takes a Hit (CBS Poll: KERRY 48, BUSH 43)

[mobuto]

(CBS) The Congressional hearings on what happened before Sept. 11 appear to have raised concerns about both the Bush administration's credibility and its overall performance, even on the issue on which the administration may be staking its re-election.

The latest CBS News poll, conducted Tuesday through Thursday, shows declines in the president's approval ratings in a number of policy areas, but especially changes in the evaluation of the president's handling of terrorism.

Six in ten Americans are following the hearings closely; 56 percent say the administration is cooperating with the panel. But what the administration is saying does not receives high marks: 59 percent say it is hiding something it knew before Sept. 11, and 11 percent even say it is lying. Only one in four think the administration is telling the entire truth.

--snip--

So far, the impact on the campaign is mixed. Nationally, the president appears to have lost ground in the last two weeks, trailing Democrat John Kerry among registered voters by five points, 48 percent to 43 percent. However, the election won't be determined by the size of the Democratic or Republican margins in states like Texas, New York and California, the largest states. There are 18 battleground states where the campaigns are already focusing their attention and their advertising campaigns. In those states, the race is tighter, with Mr. Bush receiving 47 percent to Kerry's 45 percent.

--continued--

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/04/02/opinion/polls/main609944.shtml

[molly]

1. Best news of the day!

[skooooo]

3. WHeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!

Great way to start the weekend.

[sniffa]

2. what a wonderfuL week!

aL franken on aLL the shows; air america Lauch; and more unraveLing of the bushsquad.

[Mari333]

4. I forgot how long truth takes to seep into US conciousness

I did. I guess I have to remember not everyone in the USA are like the people on DU, and choose to dig like madmen and madwomen for truth.
My dad always told me, look behind the lies, seek out the truth, dont believe what people tell you, find out for yourself.
I keep forgetting a lot of people didnt hear that as a kid.
Now we have this inglorious mess on our hands, and the nudgies of truth are awakening the sleeping giant of people that, for one reason or another, arent interested in the truth, why their jobs are gone, why their kids have been skirted off to some foreign land for nothing, and died for nothing, why some fratboy and the rest of the brats in the WH were maybe starting to get on people's nerves, and were not telling the truth.
I wonder if I can ever forgive all the people who supported the Bu$hadmin, from corporate media to the guy next door, for allowing this insanity to continue unabated for so long.
I wonder if I can. I dunno. Not with Michael in Iraq right now. I dont think I can right now.

[w4rma]

20. Forgive, imho. There are more important people to hold grudges against. nt

[Mari333]

35. I will never forgive them or the Bush admin for doing this

none of them. ever.
none of them. ever.
http://www.bringthemhomenow.com

[0007]

5. Yipeeeeeeeeee!!!!!

[DrBB]

6. The overall trend on ShrubCo is relentlessly down

Has been from the beginning. Big spike for 9/11, then down. Big spike (not as big) for Iraq, then down. Nother spike for Saddam (not as big), then down down down.

They need another spike some time in October. {Insert obvious conclusion here.}

[mobuto]

7. Why wouldn't it be?

The Iraq war has turned out to be a complete disaster and the economy is crap. We haven't found Bin Laden, we're racking up record deficits, and the Red Sox still can't win a Series. Why the hell wouldn't Bush's ratings be down? You really have to start to wonder about those poor deranged souls still supporting him.

[ALADEM]

8. 18 Battleground States

Would someone be kind enough to post the 18 states? From now until the election, I would like to track the polls in those states.

[trogdor]

18. 18?

Seems there are more of these than there were in 2K.

[cally]

19. At the bottom of the article

The 18 “battleground states” include Arizona, Arkansas, Delaware, Florida, Iowa, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, New Hampshire, Nevada, New Mexico, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Washington, West Virginia, and Wisconsin.

Welcome to DU

[mobuto]

21. Here are the 18 battleground states

as declared by CBS.

Arizona, (Bush)
Arkansas, (Bush)
Delaware, (Gore)
Florida, (Bush)
Iowa, (Gore)
Maine, (Gore)
Michigan, (Gore)
Minnesota, (Gore)
Missouri, (Bush)
New Hampshire, (Bush)
Nevada, (Bush)
New Mexico, (Gore)
Ohio, (Bush)
Oregon, (Gore)
Pennsylvania, (Gore)
Washington, (Gore)
West Virginia, (Bush)
Wisconsin. (Gore)

In 2000, 8 went for Bush, 10 went for Gore. I agree pretty much with their list, although it seems somewhat doubtful that Iowa, Delaware or Washington will be much in play.

[dolstein]

29. Gore barely carried Iowa in 2000

Here were the results:

Gore - 638,517 (48.54%)

Bush - 634,373 (48.22%)

Nader - 29,374 (2.23%)


I don't see how anyone could assume that Iowa won't be highly competitive this fall.

[mobuto]

30. Because Iowa's trending Democratic

Kerry's up almost ten points in the polls.

[calimary]

32. Noted with some amusement the "Arnold Factor" in California didn't work.

California is not listed here as a battleground state. No surprise. California AIN'T GOIN' FOR bUSH!

[TankLV]

38. Just heard Nevada on NPR this morning: Kerry is @ 49%, bush* 43%

It's a reverse of just a week ago!

[modrepub]

23. PA results for Prez

Not much encouragement here in PA:

Bush: 46%
Kerry: 40%
Nader: 3%
Undecided: 12%

Hey it's still early, but the job figures are certain to give Bush some positive spin for several news cycles.

Added Link:

http://pdn.philly.com/2004/03/31/keyzpoll.pdf

[Merlin]

9. Before you get too jubilant, read the fine print.

"In those (18 battleground) states, the race is tighter, with Mr. Bush receiving 47 percent to Kerry's 45 percent."

[WFF]

11. Bush just pulled ahead of Kerry in Wisconsin

47% to 41% with Nader getting 5%. :(

Just what is Nader's agenda anyway?

[54anickel]

15. WHAT?!?!?! In WI? We've got to get busy with LTTEs and whatever

else we Wisconsinites can do. We CANNOT let this happen in our state!
:cry:

[mobuto]

28. I don't think he'll win Milwaukee

That's for sure.

[WFF]

33. Bush won't win in Madison either

But Green Bay/Fox Valley and the rural areas are traditionally Republican.

[Blasphemer]

31. Probably because of the anti-Kerry ads

Pretty sad that they would make such a difference.

[Rufus T. Firefly]

36. That statistic is kinda meaningless...

since they're throwing the states together to get a percentage. Like the national polls for Congressional elections - doesn't mean anything.

[GreenGreenLimaBean]

10. Remember, this poll doesn't include the Iraq mutilation killings

the airplay those pictures are getting will start to turn republicans
around as well, especially GOP women.

Charred American body parts hanging from bridges just doesn't cut it
with the electorate.

[Beetwasher]

12. Shall We Discuss Gallup Again?

In light of this it has to start becoming more apparent to pretty much everyone that Gallup is totally corrupt.

[Nashyra]

13. If * is such a "leader"

why is he afraid to testify without Cheney? Commercial fuel? If he is such a leader why not testify alone, under oath and in public? That is what a real leader would do.

[snippy]

14. Bush's lack of credibility is his biggest weakness.

Without credibility, all of Bush's claims, including his boasts of his own magnificance and his attacks on Kerry, become meaningless.

Bush is the most compulsive and incessant liar in the history of American politics.

There is no subject so somber, serious, or shallow that Bush will not lie about it. The only other option is not to lie. And that is something Bush can not do.

These points need to be made and emphasized over and over and over again.

Ridiculing Bush for his compulsive and incessant lying needs to become common, especially among Americans who do not follow politics.

Is it true that John McCain has an illegitimate Negro daughter and the yawning boy was not there and was not yawning and besides he was standing some place else and Richard Clarke had complete access to Bush and Rice which proves that Clarke was out of the loop which is Clinton's fault so unnamed White House sources may be identified whenever Bush wants to even though everyone except Bush himself knows where he was during his Alabama National Guard service which was after he volunteered to go to Viet Nam but before he was no longer required to take a flight physical and about the same time that God told Bush to smite Saddam which is Clinton's fault because the 60 lines of embryonic stem cells prove that republican science is better than sound science but the Bush administration did not illegally reveal the identity of a covert CIA operative which resulted in 2,000,000 new jobs being created because democrats support terrorism and are not good Americans just as the Jews were not good Germans which is Clinton's fault and the White House is cooperating with the 9/11 commission which is why the White House withheld documents and called the republicans on the commission before Clarke testified since the dental xrays prove that Bush did not ignore either the repeated warnings of the dangers of al Qaeda and Osama or the August 2001 intelligence briefing specifically warning of the upcoming 9/11 attacks because the United States is a nation with a mission and that mission is to bring freedom to every single person in the world which will cut the deficit in half if you do not count those parts of the deficit which will increase under Bush which is Clinton's fault but the boxes from China were labeled "Made in USA" which resulted in 2,600,000 new jobs being created even though the $400 billion decorative medicare turkey was not labeled $550 billion which proves that government spending under Bush has gone down if you do not count the increased government spending under Bush which is Clinton's fault and Bush's plane to Baghdad was spotted because before Saddam bought the uranium and became an urgent but not an imminent threat which is Clinton's fault Bush had no plans on his desk to invade Iraq since the invasion was not planned before Bush took office and the aircraft carrier was too far offshore for the Navy to make a large enough Mission Accomplished banner to describe the WMD we have found in Iraq some of which Saddam was giving to Osama for following Saddam's plans and using Iraqi hijackers on 9/11 which is Clinton's fault but everyone who pays income taxes got a tax cut which created 3,000,000 new jobs and allowed Iraqi oil revenue to pay for the cost of the reconstruction of Iraq after the invasion by a small number of troops who would be greeted with floral program related activities except for the dead and wounded troops who are being brought home secretly which is Clinton's fault since Bush is the one who hugs the mothers and the widows and the wives and the kids and that is why Bush who is responsible for good economic numbers but not bad economic numbers which is Clinton's fault wrote the poem that he did not write blaming Laura for dropping the dog?

FIRE THE LIAR

[Trajan]

22. Oh F*CK ...

That is a wonderful paragraph ...

One of the most wonderful paragraphs I've ever read here that puts Bush's lies and GOP idiocy into perspective ....

Im gonna excerpt this, and show it in DU Lounge ...

OH CRIPES !

Its ONE SENTENCE ! ....

Your my hero ....

[snippy]

25. Feel free to use it anyway you wish. I send it to some in the media

from time to time. Due to Bush's incessant lying it requires almost constant updating.

[myrna minx]

26. Oh my gawd!

I hope you don't mind if I e-mail this out. This was amazing. :bounce: :toast:

[laylah]

34. Awesome!

Thanks for posting this and allowing us to use it at will. I have just forwarded it to most of my mailing list...:bounce:

Jenn

[Kerry in 04]

37. Awesome post!

I am going to have to send that to a few people if you don't mind.:D

[snippy]

40. Please do.

[reprobate]

16. Have we all forgotten Ted Olson?

Remember Ted, then head of the white house office of disinformation (it was called something else, cant remember what)? He's the one that said that the gov't will lie to us when they thought it was necessary.

That may have been the only true statement that this administration has ever uttered.

[VolcanoJen]

17. The Credibility Gap will widen further after Condi's appearance...

... before the 9/11 Commission next Thursday.

:D

It's the credibility, stupid. This really should be our election season mantra.

[On the Road]

24. "Six in ten Americans are following the hearings closely" -- ?

Wow -- those are Watergate numbers. I had no idea. It's about as much as the Clinton impeachment AFAIK.

[Triana]

27. VOTERS GET A CLUE!

'bout damn time...what took 'em so long? I just hope they VOTE their sentiments from these polls...

[mvd]

39. Great news!

:bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce:

Those battleground states HAVE had tons of Bush advertising, so I'm glad it's not worse.