Hey. . . um, I know people are, like,
obsessed with Iowa right now. . .but has anyone bothered to look at the box choc full o'
downward red arrows on the right side of the screen?
So what accounts for this? It could be just as everyone here predicted: Saddam's capture would give Bush a brief bounce in the polls, but he would soon resume his steady downward slide. Despite the fawning press coverage -- "popular wartime president," blah blah blah -- Bush's approval ratings have constantly looked like a graph of the Nasdaq circa 2000 or so.
I guess, though, it could be a factor of negative ads in Democrat primary/caucus states, though this is just a random guess. In any event, it's interesting to note how the trajectory of the polls have consistently contradicted the free ride given to Bush in the press. Indeed, it's likely only this free ride that has prevented Bush's ratings from slipping into the upper 30s.
In other words: even with the most flattering possible coverage people continue to diss George Bush. In other words: Americans are nowhere near as stupid as the press assumes.