George W. Bush and Polls

Peter Brown of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute, asks some questions about Bush's low poll numbers. I think he may be asking the wrong questions.

Simply put, are Americans fed up with Bush's brand of conservatism, or skeptical about the president's competence, his ability to make the trains run on time?

Brown's first run-on question includes a reference to the fascist Mussolini - nice touch for a supposed neutral observer - but I think it is more valid to ask if Americans in general are sick of polls and politics more than any specific politician.

Every poll that I've seen shows Bush's numbers at very low levels. That makes news (bad news always leads). However, I've also seen other polls that show both Congress and the Senate at such low levels that it makes Bush's numbers look like the second coming of George Washington. And let's not forget the poll numbers for the main stream media which are the lowest of the bunch. Nothing seems to be polling well. Why is that?

My guess is that people are no longer answering polls partly because they think they are a waste of time and partly because people are sick of politics. Honestly, if someone called your house and asked for 15 minutes of your time - would you agree or would you quickly say "no thanks"? The only people who want to give up that 15 minutes are people with axes to grind. A pollster calls a household of Bush supporters and the thought is "not another poll" and the answer is "no time right now - just sitting down to dinner." A pollster calls someone wearing a No Blood for Oil shirt and of course they have time for the poll.

It's like an extension of the old PJ O'Rourke line. When asked why you never see Republicans protesting in the streets, he answered "Its because we have jobs." I would love to poll the pollsters to find out how difficult it is getting people (especially Republicans) to answer polls and compare that against historical numbers. I'd bet that it is getting harder and harder to get people to answer polls. Why aren't "average Americans" anwering polls any more? Its because we have better things to do with our time.

If you read Brown's piece and replace the word "public" with "people who respond to polls" - it reads very different.

I'm not hearkening back to Richard Nixon and his "silent majority" - I'm just pointing out that today the "silent majority" is sick and tired of polls and politics in general. I blame this political malaise on all the negative news and bias found in the main stream media.

If you had a co-worker who did nothing but complain and make negative comments - how long would it be before you tuned out that person? Nothing is more negative than the main stream media these days and its not like they have kept the public trust through this negativity either. CNN allowing itself to be censured by Saddam Hussein, Jordan Eason accusing the military of targeting journalists, Jason Blair, the Katrina coverage, the Koran being flushed down the toilets at Gitmo fabrications, Dan Rather's fabricated National Guard memo, etc, etc, etc.

Circulations at newspapers are down, ratings of news shows are down - people are tuning out the negativity. People are tuning out the media quicker than a guy interviewing someone for a job who has nothing posiitve to say about any company he's ever worked at.

Reading Brown's piece you would think that Bush cannot govern but then we see that his NSA candidate is approved by a 78-15 margin. General Hayden was supposed to be this controversial choice and the MSM played him up as a guy who wants nothing more than to spy on Americans but he gets confirmed 78-15? Those polls suggested that was not possible. How could those polls be so wrong?