Poll Numbers

Recently, the big polling news has been the approval rating of President George W Bush. People are either joyous (typically Democrats) or nervous (typically Republicans) about the most recent poll readings, but the real deal is actually quite simple.

President Bush won the most recent presidential election 51/47. Let us call that 50/50. In other words, Democrats make up 40% of the voting electorate, Republicans make up 40% of the voting electorate and the rest make up 10% of the voting electorate. What has happened is that the Democrats have remained virtually unchanged at 90% of Democrats dissaprove of President Bush. This is more or less his approval rating from Democrats in 2004. This equates to a dissaproval rating of 35% of the total electorate. The "other" category has gone from solidly President Bush (in large part because most non-Republicans and Democrats found Senator Kerry extremely unfavorable) to solidly anti-President Bush. If 9% (out of 10% of the electorate for this group) of the electorate had been for the President, they are now against him. The real story is the Republicans, with whom the President is losing significant support. The most recent polling data I have seen is a 50% approval rating among Republicans. This means a 50% dissaproval rating, also among Republicans.

If you add the numbers up, 35% + 9% + 20% = 64%, or roughly the President's current dissaproval rating.

The problem with this President has always been that he is the best conservative liberals could ever hope for, they just don't like his credentials.

Hey guys, with the kind of spending this President has engaged in, be careful what you wish for.