After 9/11 Bush, had perfect pitch in terms of his personal and policy reaction. He hasn't been so surefooted this time. |
After 9/11, people thought Bush's responses were just right and his ratings soared. It's just not clear that that's the case here. The views about this president are pretty hard right now, so I don't think we'll see a significant change. They're pro or opposed to him. The country is deeply divided. |
Americans are clearly worried about the future course there [in Iraq], but at the same time I just don't think most are ready to throw in the towel at this point. |
Americans, as they always do when they have troops in harm's way, are going to be watching the performance on the ground. While they may be encouraged by the elections . . . at the same time they are going to want to continue to measure how it's going. |
I do think the war is overshadowing performance of the economy. Whenever we have troops in harm's way that anxiety washes over everything else. |
I don't really think Katrina had much effect. |
I think you've already seen the evidence of that on Social Security. You have a united wall of Democratic opposition and he hasn't been able to penetrate that. |
Iraq is just a great weight holding down perceptions of an economy that is quite robust. Whenever you have troops in harm's way, people are anxious about things in general. |
It certainly has stopped erosion. Whether it can turn the numbers up significantly remains to be seen. |
It certainly is at a very low point. |
It could reflect the return of people's traditional skepticism of federal power. Or perhaps as memories of 9/11 recede, they could just be thinking the government is going too far. |
It's unrealistic to expect him to gain back too much more ground given the deep polarization in this country about the Bush presidency. |
People are just anxious when troops are in harm's way. That anxiousness extends to other areas. |
People have to believe that the situation is getting under control very, very quickly. |
Public opinion has been remarkably stable for 30 years and at one and the same time deeply contradictory. |