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From the diaries -- kos)
I had suggested before the election it was likely a month or two early. The longer the insurgency went on, the more it favored Kerry and hurt Bush. Save the recriminations about what Kerry didn't do to take advantage; the election is over and Bush's numbers aren't very pretty:
Most Americans now believe the war with Iraq was not worth fighting and more than half want to fire embattled Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, the chief architect of that conflict, according to a new
Washington Post-ABC News poll.
The survey found that 56 percent of the country now believes that the cost of the conflict in Iraq outweighs the benefits, while 42 percent disagreed. It marked the first time since the war began that a clear majority of Americans have judged the war to have been a mistake.
This isn't the end of the story, but considering that Bush's supporters were willing to give him the benfit of considerable doubt, the string is running out. Among the Dem tasks is to come up with a credible spokesperson who can press this point to its logical conclusion. In any case, it's quite possible that with these numbers, the press will have a better 2005 than 2004.
See also GALLUP: Bush support drops, setting record; most want Rummy gone for confirmation; it's more than just one poll.
Hey, want more fun with polls? Compare Junior to Poppy (TIME as reported in the WSJ):
A Time magazine poll examined public views of George W. Bush compared with their views of the first President George Bush on which attributes more accurately describes each of them:
* Honest and trustworthy: The former president, by 37% to 19%.
* Understands the issues: The former president, by 43% to 25%.
* Likeable: The former president, by 38% to 28%.
* Has good judgment: The former president, by 43% to 21%.
* Sticks to positions, even if unpopular: The current president, by 56% to 16%.
In each category, the remainder of those polled said both, neither or not sure.
The Time-SRBI poll of 1,009 adults was taken Dec. 13-14. It has a margin of sampling error of 3 percentage points.