Bush Paint by the (Poll) Numbers

Here's the Washington Post/ABC poll which closed yesterday (and historically, WaPo polls aren't creatures of extremes, usually a bit more conservative than NY Times polls but relatively balanced). Now let's look at what it tells us, if anything. Thankfully, however, the president will pay no attention to it.

Here we go!

Do you support a change of Senate rules (killing of the filibuster? 66 Oppose; 26 Support

48% think the Dems are right to block Bush's judicial appointees vs. 36% opposed

Does Bush understand problems of people like you? 40% yes; 58% no

Only 39% support a constitutional amendment to prevent gays from marrying.

63% see the U.S. economy as not so good/poor while 37% rate it as excellent/good (actually, only 2% said excellent)

64% says gas prices are causing them noticeable financial hardship

Asked who's to blame for gas prices, Bush got the biggest vote at 31% compared with US oil companies (23%) and non-US oil producing nations (26%)

58% said those groups whose views are similar to their own are LOSING political influence in this country

47% said that Dems better represent the respondents' own personal values vs. 38% for Reps

52% said judges are neither too liberal nor too conservative (compared with 26% who see them as too liberal and 18% too conservative)

Now let's look at how the poll breaks down people's views of Bush's handling of specific issues:

Approve Disapprove
Social Security 31 64
Iraq 42 56
Economy 40 57
Energy policy 35 54

54% think Iraq was not worth fighting compared with 44% who think it was.
58% think we're bogged down in Iraq vs. 38% who think we're making some progress

Asked whether a year from now, Iraq will be more stable, 39% expressed confidence this would happen (although 37 of the 39% said only "somewhat" confident) while 60% said they didn't think so (31% of these said they had NO confidence whatsoever)

Overall, 50% disapprove of Mr. Bush's job performance while 47% approve (note: 38% strongly disapprove while only 22% strongly approve)

Finally, Dems were trusted on issues like SS more than Bush (50 vs. 32%)