Idaho passes ex-stronghold Utah as the nation's biggest Bush backer

[norml]

Idaho passes ex-stronghold Utah as the nation's biggest Bush backer

By Matt Canham
The Salt Lake Tribune


For months, Utah has supported President Bush like no other state.
But no longer.
Utah now ranks second, behind Idaho, in surveys tracking Bush's job approval.
Utah (51 percent) and Idaho (52 percent) are the only two states where a majority of residents still approve of the way Bush is handling the country, according to SurveyUSA figures released Monday. KSL-TV sponsored the poll of Utahns, which had a margin of error of 4.1 percent.
Wyoming residents were split with half approving of Bush's job performance and 49 percent disapproving. Every other state was below 50 percent and most were significantly lower.
The collection of surveys, available online at www.surveyusa.com, found that 38 states reported job approval numbers at 40 percent or below.
Such dismal approval numbers have Republicans concerned about November's midterm election.
"Its tough right now," said Jeff Hartley, executive director of the Utah Republican Party. "The president's approval rating dropping hurts all of our candidates."
Bush's top political strategist, Karl Rove, blamed the poor showing on the Iraq war during a question and answer session at the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative Washington, D.C., think tank.
"People like this president," Rove said Monday, according to an Associated Press report. "They're just sour right now on the war.
"The war looms over everything. There's no doubt about it."
Even as fatigue with the war dropped Bush's approval numbers to all-time lows, Utahns have consistently stayed supportive. In December 2005, Bush had a 63 percent approval rating in Utah. But that number has dropped bit by bit ever since.


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http://www.sltrib.com/utah/ci_3827505

[brazil]

1. Tough?

Yeah. They might lose their 95% margin in the state legislature... then what?

[wakeme2008]

2. Funny how the state with a very large White Supremacists base

would support Bush.....