Another poll full of bad news for Bush
by Mike Hersh

May 23, 2003 -- WASHINGTON (mikehersh.com) -- On April 18, 2003 I wrote an article, "Poll full of bad news for Bush":

Less than 20 months before Election Day 2004, the mass media cheerleaders tell us AWOL Bush is riding high. Fresh from proving peace and inspections advocates were correct -- that Saddam Hussein posed no threat to Americans -- Bush is riding a wave of faux patriotism and war pride. But that wave can't cover up weakness polls reveal.

Update: everything I predicted is coming true.

Bush's poll ratings are sagging in the aftermath of the attack on Iraq along with the economy. Voters have no confidence in Bush's economic policies, and as they learn more about Iraq, Bush's approval will continue to collapse.

MSNBC reports,

President Bush's approval rating, which spiked during the war in Iraq, has dropped back to prewar levels and below, according to a new NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll that found that the economy was by far most Americans' biggest concern.

This poll shows a dramatic drop in approval for Bush according to MSNBC:

62 percent of those surveyed last Wednesday through Friday ... approved of his performance [down 9 points from] Bush's support in the same poll a month ago, when 71 percent backed the president as the U.S. invasion of Iraq dominated news coverage. And it was below levels as high as 67 percent in surveys conducted before the war.

Bush promised that huge tax cuts for his campaign supporters will jump start the economy. "The survey, however, found little support for tax cuts among Americans, 57 percent of whom said the economy was their No. 1 concern."

Defying the Republican Party line, "Nearly two-thirds of those surveyed, 64 percent, said there were better ways to boost the economy than tax cuts." (MSNBC, May 21, 2003)

Republicans cynically claim huge tax cuts for their wealthy patrons will create jobs and stimulate the economy, even though this has never worked in the past. Reagan's similar policies directly led to all time record deficits and market distortions which chilled economic growth. The result: double-digit unemployment for two consecutive years and a deep, long double-dip recession.

Most understand Bush's policies are to blame for the current economic mess, and more of the same will not help put Americans back to work. Bush offers no economic leadership, only huge tax cuts for his favored special interests. Voters have no faith in Bush's economic policies.

Bush's brain trust hoped to blame the sputtering economy on President Clinton, 9/11, and anything other than Bush's efforts to enrich the idle rich. However, most Americans understand Bush's economic policies are largely at fault. Most Americans know Bush found a growing economy with a strong job market and a record surplus and squandered all that with voodoo economics.

Bush's policies have already cost millions of jobs. Voters realize Bush's voodoo economics failed and will fail to fix the problems they caused. As unemployment and the national debt continue to rise and as the stock market flounders, Bush's economic mismanagement will cost him at the polls.

Bush's ever-changing rationale for his rush to war against Iraq had one constant. All the Bush administration's claims were gross exaggerations and manipulations at best, if not wanton lies.

The facts discredit Bush.

Saddam was not behind 9/11. Iraq never backed Osama bin Laden or Al Qaeda. Iraq did not represent a clear and present danger to the US. Iraq did not have, use or export weapons of mass destruction. Violent Iraqi protests discredit Bush's latest claims -- that he ordered the attack to "liberate" Iraq.

Bush's Iraq bounce is already gone. As before the attack on Iraq, most Americans responding to polls say they would not vote for Bush. This mainly because his economic policies hurt most voters to benefit a few wealthy campaign contributors. This even before the magnitude of Bush's Iraq-related lies and failures take hold.

As time passes, Bush's war glory will fade.

And as Iraq and Afghanistan slip into chaos or under radical Islamist control and voters realize Bush lied to them about Iraq, Bush's sole advantage will turn into a liability.

Mike Hersh is a writer, lawyer and activist living in the Washington, DC area and a pioneer of Internet debate and discourse. Check out his Web site at MikeHersh.com.