www.cnn.com/2005/POLITICS/09/19/bush.poll/index.html
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- President Bush's vow to rebuild the Gulf Coast did li ttle to help his standing with the public, only 40 percent of whom now a pprove of his performance in office, according to a CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll released Monday. Just 41 percent of the 818 adults polled between Friday and Monday said t hey approved of Bush's handling of the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, w hile 57 percent disapproved. And support for his management of the war in Iraq has dropped to 32 perce nt, with 67 percent telling pollsters they disapproved of how Bush is pr osecuting the conflict. The survey had a sampling error of plus or minus 4 percentage points. Fifty-nine percent said they considered the 2003 invasion of Iraq a mista ke. That figure is the highest recorded in a CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll. Only 39 percent said the invasion of Iraq was the right thing to do. Sixt y-three percent said they wanted to see some or all US troops withdraw n from that country. Just 35 percent of those polled approved of Bush's handling of the econom y, with 63 percent saying they disapproved. Bush's overall job approval number was 40 percent, with 58 percent of tho se surveyed telling pollsters they disapproved of his performance in off ice. It is the second time his approval rating has hit that low a mark. His personal qualities hit fresh lows: Only 49 percent called him a stron g and decisive leader, down from 54 percent in July and 51 percent in Au gust. Just 42 percent said he cares about people like themselves, and 47 percent called him honest and trustworthy. By contrast, 51 percent did not consider him strong and decisive, 50 perc ent would not call him honest and 56 percent said he didn't care about p eople like them. The poll did contain one bright spot for Bush, as 60 percent of those sur veyed supported the confirmation of John Roberts, his pick for chief jus tice of the United States. Just 26 percent opposed Roberts' confirmation , while 14 percent had no opinion. New Orleans speech In a nationally televised speech Thursday from New Orleans' Jackson Squar e, Bush pledged to put the full might and money of the federal governmen t behind the rebuilding of the hurricane-stricken region He also vowed to find out what went wrong during the disaster response so that it never happens again. He said the federal government will cover the "great majority" of the cos ts of reconstruction, estimated at $150 billion and up. And he conceded that the response to the disaster overwhelmed "every leve l of government" in the days following the hurricane. But only 25 percent of those polled said they had great confidence in his administration's ability to rebuild the city and other Gulf Coast commu nities battered by Katrina, which slammed ashore August 29. Another 43 percent said they had a moderate amount of confidence in the a dministration, 21 percent said they had little confidence and 10 percent said they had none. Nearly 900 deaths have been blamed on Katrina, which struck near the Loui siana-Mississippi state line. The chaotic response and sharp criticism of federal authorities prompted the resignation of Federal Emergency Management Agency chief Michael Bro wn and raised fears that the federal response to a major terrorist attac k would be equally disorganized. Fifty percent of those polled said they feared the federal government wou ld spend too much on reconstruction. Forty-five percent said Americans should make "major sacrifices" to pay f or the effort, but only 20 percent said they would be willing to make th ose sacrifices themselves. Seventeen percent said they would be willing to pay higher taxes to suppo rt reconstruction efforts, and 15 percent favored financing the cost wit h more deficit spending. Six percent said they would pay for reconstruct ion efforts with cuts in domestic spending. War spending Fifty-four percent told pollsters they would cut spending for the war in Iraq to pay for disaster relief. Thirty percent favored a full US withdrawal from Iraq and slightly more -- 33 percent -- said they would support a partial withdrawal. Only 26 percent said they wanted to keep the number of troops at the curr ent level of 138,000, and 8 percent said they wanted to see more troops deployed there. A US-led coalition invaded Iraq in March 2003 based on the contention t hat Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein was concealing weapons of mass destructi on in violation of UN resolutions and could have provided those weapon s to terrorists. No such weapons were found after Saddam's ouster, though a US probe fou nd Baghdad concealed some weapons-related research from UN inspectors. Nearly 1,900 US troops and an estimated tens of thousands of Iraqis hav e been killed since the invasion. The Bush administration now says US troops are needed to secure the est ablishment of a democratic government in Iraq.
|
http://csua.com/feed/