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January 11, 2006
Reality Check
Today the Pew Research Center released the findings of its latest national poll, and there are some very interesting results.
Perhaps most interesting is that most of the issues dominating political shouting head shows and the "insider" crowd are not being followed closely at all by the American public. Fewer than 20% of respondents said they've closely followed the Abramoff scandal (18%) or the Alito nomination (14%), and only a third (32%) have closely watched the controversy over President Bush's unauthorized wiretapping of Americans.
Equally interesting is that, despite media reports a few weeks back of Mr. Bush's recovery in the realm of public opinion, Pew's Bush approval ratings remain unchanged from December -- 38% approve/54% disapprove in both month's polls. Now beginning his sixth year in office, which is historically the last effective one for American presidents, Mr. Bush is limping in. What's that strange quacking sound we hear?
Perhaps unsurprisingly, the 1,500 Americans surveyed were far more interested in the recent West Virginia mine tragedy than doings in Washington, with nearly half those surveyed (47%) having followed it very closely. 40% of respondents said they are following Iraq closely, which may explain President Bush's continued political slump.
Also in the poll is Americans' belief (81%) that lobbyists bribing Members of Congress is common behavior, which suggests that the GOP's defense of "everybody does it" has been at least somewhat effective, and that this issue may bear limited fruit for Democrats on the campaign trail this year. Note to Dem candidates: it can't just be about ethics, it's everything, stupid.
Good news for Democrats is that, while the public views both parties rather dimly these days -- Congressional Ds at 34% approval and Rs at 33% -- respondents said by a large margin (41% to 27%) that Democrats can do a better job of handling the nation's top problem, a major change from a year ago.
The poll shows a big public disconnect on the government snooping issue. While those surveyed are overwhelmingly opposed to government monitoring of their own phone, email and credit card records, folks are evenly split on whether such surveillance of suspected terrorists should be allowed. Sadly, also not a surprising finding.
The poll contains some excellent information and is well worth perusing.
Posted by houtopia at January 11, 2006 07:38 PM