More evidence that Republicans are living up to their image as the
Grand Incompetent Old Party. From a brand new
Newsweek poll (emphasis mine):
[F]ully 62 percent of Americans disapprove of the president's handling of the situation in Iraq--including 24 percent of Republicans; 59 percent disapprove of his handling of the economy, including 20 percent of Republicans.
More about Republican fringe kookiness below the fold...
Bush approval:
According to the poll, conducted through phone interviews with 1,001 Americans, 55 percent disapprove of how the president is doing his job, while 38 percent approve, an increase of 3 points since the May 11-12 poll...
Whoa...what a bounce!! With the exception of terrorism, Dems continue to lead Republicans on every issue. And even in terms of fighting terrorism, says Newsweek, there's only "a five-point lead for the GOP. But before the last midterm elections in 2002 the Republicans held a 23-point lead over the Democrats, according to the Oct. 24-25 NEWSWEEK Poll that year.
Here's more:
On every issue other than terrorism and homeland security, the Dems win. Americans trust them to do a better job than the Republicans handling:
The situation in Iraq: 45 to 39
The economy: 53 to 34
Health care: 56 to 26 (!!)
Gas and oil prices: 52 to 25 (!!)
Stem-cell research: 52 to 29 (!!)
Federal spending and the deficit: 53 to 29 (!!)
The only non-security issue where the GOP comes close is immigration, where the split is 39 to 37 in favor of the Democrats.
WOW! And the icing on the cake:
The worst news for the GOP, which controls the White House and both houses of Congress, is that a clear majority of Americans agree on one thing: 67 percent say they are dissatisfied with the direction of the country.
When asked which candidate in their own congressional district they would vote for if the election were held today, 51 percent of registered voters said the Democrats, while 39 percent said the Republicans...
Enjoy your weekend, kids.
P.S. Hat Tip to Atrios for originally posting about this poll today. His words regarding the Bush "Bounce:" WHEEEEEEEE.
P.P.S "Fringe kooks" is what Rush Limbaugh has been calling Connecticut Democratic primary voters lately. He uses the phrase approximately 10 times a minute. In fact, if you were to actually delete the epithets he uses every day, his 3-hour show would be about 10 minutes long. Rush Limbaugh is a thrice-divorced drug addict who sat out the Vietnam war because of a boil on his butt and currently needs pharmacological assistance to rescue his manhood from a chronic impotence problem. Just for the record.