8/13    And down down down goes the roller coaster:
        http://www.pollkatz.homestead.com/files/image001.gif
        \_ the most suprising thing about this plot to me is that the data
           appear to fit to straight lines.  this seems very odd.
                \_ what happened in 4/2003? And yay for the data.
                   \_ The codpiece victory walk on the aircraft carrier...
                      oh how soon they forget...
           \_ Study some statistics..  It's a correlation.  Also, consider
              how people in this country look at short and long term history.
              \_ i have studied statistics and i don't understand why they
                 are straight lines. please explain. -!pp
                 \_ We're a very "what have you done for me lately" culture,
                    and have remarkably short memories.  This accounts pretty
                    strongly for both the linear decreases and the sharp
                    upticks. --scotsman
                    \_ no, it doesn't.  why is it linear, and not, say,
                       an exponential decay?  if you extrapolate that line
                       for a few more years, you get to zero. i would have
                       thought it would approach some "who cares" asymptote.
                       \_ There are other graphs on there from polls from
                          other presidencies.  They each have a very
                          characteristic feel to them.  With Bush, I think his
                          administration is so tight lipped, and has had the
                          media so much in their pocket that they have a good
                          deal more control than others over perception.
                          Weekly reports of another super conservative nominee
                          or new environmental regulation struck down causes
                          a trickle drain on his popularity.  Then they pull
                          a stunt like the aircraft landing to get people
                          excited and stupid again. --scotsman
        \_ It's also interesting how certain poll groups are consistently
           lower/higher than others. The %-age difference btwn Harris (blue
           diamond) and AmResGp (yellow diamond) is especially pronounced.
           \_ Harris is the king of "give the people what they payed for."
              They're incompetent, corrupt twits.  --person who worked
              on a project they headed
        \_ His disapproval rating (image002.gif) is a lot more scattered.