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| 5/24 |
| 2005/12/19-21 [Politics/Domestic/President/Bush, Politics/Foreign/MiddleEast/Iraq] UID:41078 Activity:moderate |
12/19 Bush approval rating at 47%
http://abcnews.go.com/International/PollVault/story?id=1421748
\_ Bush approval rating unchanged at 41%
http://www.cnn.com/2005/POLITICS/12/19/bush.poll/index.html
\_ I guess the +/- of these polls sucks.
\_ Bush approval rating unchanged at 41%
http://www.cnn.com/2005/POLITICS/12/19/bush.poll/index.html
\_ I guess the +/- of these polls sucks.
\_ So when is the impeachment? Where is Motd Poll Guy? We haven't
had an official update in weeks.
\_ He's been a lot more contrite lately and in fact the Iraq
election was pretty calm. The number of suicide bombing
have gone done drastically in the past few months and
things are in fact improving. I don't like Bush but I'm
glad to see things starting to improve. Who knows, maybe
we'll have a lot of troop reduction by next year. One can
only hope so.
\_ "The number of suicide bombing have gone down drastically"?
I thought it was: More attacks, less areas.
\_ Only limited data points, but 23 suicide bombings in
11/05, 50+ in 10/05, ~35 in 8/05, 70 in 5/05. So it is
true that the number dropped drastically in 11/05, and
that drop may be part of a trend. But the article doesn't
provide enough information to be certain. The number of
car bombings are also lower (from 130 in 2/05 to 68 in
car bombings is also lower (from 130 in 2/05 to 68 in
11/05), but again the article doesn't provide enough
information to know if that's a trend or an aberration.
In general, I again find it discouraging how *little*
useful information is provided by news sources.
http://csua.org/u/edg
\_ Isn't there supposed to be a quarterly report to
Congress measuring progress?
Oh goodie, I answered my own question, it's the first
google hit for "congressional report iraq progress".
I see, the report is only up to October. |
| 5/24 |
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| abcnews.go.com/International/PollVault/story?id=1421748 originalreport originalreport Poll: Bush's Approval Ratings Climb Iraqi Elections, Economic Gains Lift President From Career Lows President Bush President Bush listens to a reporters question, Monday, Dec. The president still faces significant challenges, including majority disa pproval of his overall performance, substantial skepticism about the war and roughly 50-50 ratings on his personal honesty and his handling of e thics. Overall, 47 percent of Americans in this ABC News/Washington Post poll no w approve of George W Bush's work in office; Whi le hardly robust, that is up from a career low 39-60 percent in early No vember to its best in nearly six months. The president's recent speechmaking on Iraq may have helped him. But publ ic opinion tends to move on the basis of facts on the ground rather than political pronouncements, and the most striking change in this poll is linked to last week's successful elections in Iraq. A sense of progress in establishing civil order similarly is up, by 16 points, to 60 percent. Each is its be st since these questions first were asked in the spring of 2004. Moreover in a view held by majorities across party lines 71 percent o f Americans believe the Iraqi elections have moved the United States clo ser to the day US forces can be withdrawn. Fifty-four percent express optimism about Iraq in the year ahead, eight points more than at this ti me last year. And 56 percent think the United States is winning the war, a recent theme of the president's, up slightly from 51 percent in Augus t Other views follow: Approval of Bush's handling of the situation in Iraq is up by 10 points to its best of his second term, 46 percent. An d 54 percent think the war has improved long-term US security, the fir st majority since June a critical change, since this is the war's chie f justification. Even with his gains, the president faces considerable skepticism. Despite his recent speeches, culminating in Sunday night's national address, 60 percent of Americans say he has not done enough to explain the reasons the United States is in Iraq and 59 percent think the administration doe s not have a clear plan for handling the situation there. On the issue of troop deployment, six in 10 continue to oppose setting a deadline for withdrawal of US forces, given the counter-position that doing so would encourage Iraqi insurgents. Support for immediate withdra wal of US forces, never high, is now just 12 percent. But support for decreasing the level of US troops has reached a majority for the first time. One final result on Iraq shows its overriding importance on the national political scene: Asked, open-ended, for the most important problem for B ush and the Congress to address in the year ahead, 32 percent cite the w ar in Iraq, placing it far ahead of other mentions (the economy, 15 perc ent; This rating, the cornersto ne of Bush's support, had slipped below a majority for the first time la st month. Bush Ratings Approve Disapprove Terrorism 56% 44% Ethics 48% 49% Overall Job 47% 52% Economy 47% 52% Iraq 46% 53% Health Care 37% 57% Immigration 33% 58% Separately, and with gasoline prices down by 88 cents a gallon from their mid-September peak, there's been an 11-point gain in positive ratings o f the economy and a commensurate improvement in Bush's rating for handli ng it. His ratings are much lower, however, and essentially unchanged, o n handling health care (37 percent approve) and immigration (just 33 per cent approve, despite his recent focus on the issue). As attention on the CIA leak investigation has eased, assessments of Bush 's own honesty and trustworthiness are up by nine points, albeit just to an even split. He gets about a 50-50 split in handling ethics in govern ment, and about the same on strong leadership the latter little change d, and far weaker than his norm. Torture On another issue under current debate, this poll finds that 56 percent of Americans think the US government has a policy of using torture as pa rt of its campaign against terrorism. Yet 64 percent call this practice unacceptable, about the same as in a May 2004 poll. Thirty-two percent s ee it as acceptable, rising to a high of 41 percent of Republicans. At the same time, more Americans, 53 percent especially Republicans, 73 percent say it would be acceptable for the CIA to hold people suspect ed of involvement in terrorism in secret prisons in foreign countries wh ere US laws don't apply the so-called "black site" prisons that have been reported recently. Party Some of Bush's gains come from a rallying of the faithful: His overall ap proval rating is up most sharply among Republicans: 87 percent approve o f his job performance, up nine points (and Republican self-identificatio n is up six points, to 33 percent of the public). Just 15 percent of Dem ocrats approve of Bush's work overall, as do 38 percent of independents, compared with 33 percent of in November. While highest among Republicans, a sense of progress in Iraq, in terms of establishing civil order and a democratic government, is up very substa ntially across party lines. A sense that the war was worth fighting is u p among Republicans and independents alike (by 10 and nine points, respe ctively) but flat among Democrats. But again, that's better than in November (a record 47-20 percent split). their strong approval of the president is up by 16 points. Congress The better news for Bush gives just slight aid to his party. While Americ ans trust the Democrats over the Republicans to handle the nation's main problems by 47-42 percent, that's up slightly for the Republicans, by f ive points. And the Republicans have improved by seven points in trust t o handle Iraq, to a near-even 47-44 percent Democratic-Republican split. At the same time, the Democrats have slightly increased their advantage, now 47 percent (to the Republicans' 38 percent), in trust to handle ethi cs in government, and have a 42-34 percent advantage in "standing up to lobbyists and special interest groups." These shifts haven't much changed the basic equation looking ahead to 200 6 By a 10-point margin, 51-41 percent, registered voters say they'd pre fer the Democrat over the Republican candidate in their congressional di strict; And 65 percent of Americans approve of their own representativ e in Congress, up five points, to the likely delight of incumbents every where. Methodology This ABC News/Washington Post poll was conducted by telephone Dec. |
| www.cnn.com/2005/POLITICS/12/19/bush.poll/index.html CNN -- President Bush's approval ratings do not appear to have changed si gnificantly, despite a number of recent speeches he's given to shore up public support for the war in Iraq and its historic elections on Thursda y A CNN/USA Today Gallup poll conducted over the weekend found his approval rating stood at 41 percent, while more than half, or 56 percent, disapp rove of how the president is handling his job. A majority, or 52 percent , say it was a mistake to send troops to Iraq, and 61 percent say they d isapprove of how he is handling Iraq specifically. The margin of error w as plus or minus 3 percentage points. The poll interviews were conducted before President Bush's Oval Office ad dress, which was broadcast on primetime television Sunday. View poll results) The poll was nearly split, 49 percent to 47 percent, between those who th ought the US will either "definitely" or "probably" win, and those who said the US will lose. That said, 69 percent of those polled expresse d optimism that the US can win the war. The margin of error for how re spondents assessed the war was plus or minus 45 percentage points. When asked how long US troops will stay in Iraq, more than four out of five respondents, or 82 percent, said they believed US troops will be there from one to three years, if not longer. Only 17 percent believe U S troops will return home in a year or less. As for how long US troops should stay in Iraq, an overwhelming number o f people, or 88 percent, said US troops should stay no longer than thr ee years. More th an half, or 59 percent, say US troops should leave by this time next y ear. Although half those polled said that a stable government in Iraq was like ly within a year, 62 percent said Iraqi forces were unlikely to ensure s ecurity without US assistance. And 63 percent said Iraq was unlikely t o prevent terrorists from using Iraq as a base. The margin of error on q uestions pertaining to troop duration in Iraq, as well as the country's future, was plus or minus 3 percentage points. The poll interviewed 1,003 adult Americans and found that the public has also grown more skeptical about Bush's key arguments in favor of the war . Compared with two years ago, when 57 percent considered Iraq a part of the war on terrorism, 43 percent think so now. In the weekend poll, 55 percent said they view the war in Iraq as separate from the war on terro r The margin of error on this line of questioning was plus or minus 3 p ercentage points. On the domestic front, 56 percent of those polled say they disapprove of how Bush is handling the economy; The m argin of error was plus or minus 3 percentage points. The president may find support for his call to renew the Patriot Act. For ty-four percent said they felt the Patriot Act is about right, and 18 pe rcent said it doesn't go far enough. A third of respondents say they bel ieve the Patriot Act has gone too far in restricting people's civil libe rties to investigate suspected terrorism. Nearly two-thirds said they are not willing to sacrifice civil liberties to prevent terrorism, as compared to 49 percent saying so in 2002. The m argin of error was plus or minus 45 percentage points for those questio ns. |
| csua.org/u/edg -> 66.102.7.104/search?q=cache:BrGSSUcZWtMJ:news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20051201/ap_on_re_mi_ea&hl=en com/s/ap/20051201/ ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq as retrieved on Dec 13, 2005 21:02:48 GMT G o o g l e's cache is the snapshot that we took of the page as we crawle d the web. AP Suicide Bombings in Iraq Show Decline By CHRIS TOMLINSON, Associated Press Writer Thu Dec 1, 6:55 PM ET BAGHDAD, Iraq - Suicide bombings fell in November to their lowest level i n seven months, the American military said Thursday, citing the success of US-Iraqi military operations against insurgent and foreign fighter sanctuaries near the Syrian border. Iraq has not resulted in less bloodshed: 85 US troops died during the month, one of the highest tolls since the invasion. In Ramadi, 70 miles west of Baghdad, the US military played down report s by residents and police of widespread attacks Thursday against America n and Iraqi installations in the city. The military said only one rocket -propelled grenade was fired at an observation post, causing no casualti es. Insurgents left behind posters and graffiti saying they were members of al-Qaida in Iraq. Rick Lynch, a coalition operations officer, warne d that al-Qaida in Iraq, led by Jordanian terror mastermind Abu Musab al -Zarqawi, will likely step up attacks in the next two weeks to try to di srupt parliamentary elections Dec. Lynch told reporters that suicide bombings declined to 23 in November as US and Iraqi forces were overrunning insurgent strongholds in the Euph rates River valley west of the capital. Syria and travel down the river highway to Baghdad and other cities. Lynch called suicide bombings the insurgents' "weapon of choice" because they can inflict a high number of casualties while sacrificing only the attacker. Classic infantry ambushes draw withering American return fire, resulting in heavy insurgent losses. "In the month of November: only 23 suicide attacks the lowest we've see n in the last seven months, the direct result of the effectiveness of ou r operations," Lynch said. Car bombings parked along streets and highways and detonated remotely have declined from 130 in February to 68 in November, Lynch said. However, suicide attacks have not consistently decreased over the past ye ar. After more than 70 such attacks in May, the number fell in August by nearly half and then climbed to over 50 two months later. And despite the decline over the past month, there has been no letup in t he relentless toll of American deaths at a time of growing discontent in the United States over the Iraq war. The US command said Thursday that four American service members were ki lled the day before, three of them from hostile action and the fourth in a traffic accident. The deaths raised the American fatality toll for No vember to at least 85. That was down from the 96 American deaths suffered in October the fourt h deadliest month since the war began in March 2003. US monthly death tolls have hit 80 or a bove during 10 of the 33 months of the war. There also has been no decline over the past six months in the Iraqi deat h toll from suicide attacks, according to an Associated Press tally. In November, at least 290 Iraqis were killed in such attacks, more than dou ble the figure from the previous month. The count shows the Iraqi toll r anging from at least 69 deaths in August to at least 356 in September. November's suicide attacks included near-simultaneous bombings at two Shi ite mosques in Khanaqin, killing 76; a car bombing at a Shiite funeral n orth of the capital, killing 36; and a car bombing near a hospital in Ma hmoudiya, killing 30. Mohammed al-Obaidi said at least four mortar rounds fell near the US base on the city's eastern edge. Residents also said scores of masked gunmen, believed to be members of al-Qaida in Iraq, ra n into the streets but dispersed after launching attacks with mortars. An AP Television News video showed masked insurgents walking down a shutt ered market street and a residential neighborhood, as well as firing fou r mortar rounds. The gunmen appeared relaxed, and the US command dismi ssed the video as little more than a publicity stunt. Ramadi is the capital of Anbar province, a Sunni Arab stronghold, where c lashes between insurgents and US and Iraqi troops have left hundreds o f people dead over the past two years. US and Iraqi troops launched a joint operation near Ramadi on Wednesday, sweeping through an area used to rig car bombs. The brief burst of insurgent activity in Ramadi appeared aimed at diverti ng attention from a meeting between US officials and local tribal lead ers in a bid to ease tensions in the city. In the posters and graffiti they left behind, insurgents claimed responsi bility for shooting down a US drone. There were no reports of any US drones being shot down, however. Also Thursday, the top official for human rights in the Interior Ministry was dismissed in connection with an inquiry into allegations of torture by government security forces. Nouri al-Nouri, the ministry's chief inspector for corruption cases and h uman rights violations, was fired on the order of Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari, an official said. He spoke on condition of anonymity becaus e he is not authorized to speak to the media. Al-Nouri, a Shiite, had been in the post since the handover of sovereignt y to Iraqis in June 2004. Al-Jaafari, also a Shiite, ordered an investigation into the alleged mist reatment of up to 173 detainees after US forces entered an Interior Mi nistry lockup Nov. Richard Guadalupe of Union City, New Jersey, provide security a t the back of their Amphibious Assault Vehicle in Saadah, Iraq, eight mi les from Syria, Thursday, Dec. troops home from Iraq, President George W Bush is refusing to set a timetable but indicating that by 2006, Iraqi forces will be sufficientl y trained to let American troops shift to less visible and possibly less dangerous roles. The informati on contained in the AP News report may not be published, broadcast, rewr itten or redistributed without the prior written authority of The Associ ated Press. |