how will the polls change when more people start paying attention

[pstokely]

how many people are even pay attention now?

[Skittles]

1. ya know, ps

with the economy trashed, deficits as far as the eye can see, soldiers and civilians being killed EVERY DAY, I would DAMN SURE HOPE THEY ARE NOW STARTING TO PAY ATTENTION.

[brainoverload]

2. sometimes seems hopeless

ABC has a poll out where - among other atrocities - 45% of the responders replied yes to the question "Mr. Bush admits mistakes."

Thank goodness it is physically impossible for your head to literally explode.

[Brotherjohn]

3. PATIENCE. They are changing. Take the long view:

In just about every single poll, as catalogued on http://www.pollingreport.com, he's at his lowest ever approval rating since his term started (within MOE). Ditto for highest disapproval.

His "approval", such as it is, is skewed high entirely due to 9-11, as one can see by looking at when it skyrocketed from 50 to 85% nearly overnight. He didn't even have time to DO anything to deserve a 35% hike in approval. We were attacked, and the nation simply decided it looked better if we "supported" our leader.

The precipitous decline since then demonstrates how shallow his support is. These are people turning away from him in droves. It may not reflect quickly enough from poll to poll, but it is, in reality, millions of voters consistently abandoning the man month by month.

This graphic on the Current Washington Post site mirrors the one "Dr. Limerick" (http://www.pollkatz.homestead.com/files/pollkatzcontentpage.html) used to put up, which compiled all of Bush's approval numbers from every major poll (and unfortunately hasn't been updated this year). They both show the same thing: a steady, unavoidable, decline in popularity.

It's his destiny, even though his WashPost numbers at any given time are a notch above the average approval rating. I say he'll be at 35%-40 by election time (averaged across all polls).

The WashPost/ABC graphic:


The Pollkatz graphic: