New CBS poll finds plummeting support for Bush
Numbers USA
January 20, 2004
A CBS poll today found:
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WHAT YOU MAY WANT TO DO
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If you want to protect the President from his advisors and himself -- and protect
the country from both of them -- you may want to call the White House today
and note how the amnesty plan is hurting the Administration and state your own
opinions of the plan.
Here's where you call the White House:
(202-456-1111)
Be certain you have sent all free faxes through the NumbersUSA Fax Center.
http://www.NumbersUSA.com/fax
Here's where you go to look up any phone number of any Member of Congress:
http://www.numbersusa.com/congressinfo/
Some sources have indicated that the President has been considering using the address to the nation as a way to forcefully call on Congress to enact his immigration plans this year.
Doing so would be a political disaster as indicated by today's polling.
Now, you would think that White House advisors would see the same poll Monday and protect the President. But we know for a fact that the White House was in possession of numerous polls we have on our website and their own private polls, all of which show the unpopularity of what Bush was going to propose before he proposed it. Still, the White House proceeded with its plan to reward illegal aliens and flood the country with guest workers!
Why? Hard to tell. But clearly, the advisors thought the President's popularity could push his bitter medicine down the throats of his "60% supporters.." Instead, he has lost a sixth of that support.
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REPEAT OF LAST TIME BUSH PUSHED AN AMNESTY IN 2001
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Here's a shocker: Bush's approval ratings fell just as low in August of 2001.
Do you remember then?
In July of 2001, the White House let it be known that it was interested in an amnesty for most illegal aliens from Mexico. The news media exploded in joy and pronounced it almost a done deal because of AFL-CIO and Chamber of Commerce support.
The public reacted in horror. And NumbersUSA's network was working overtime the next few weeks.
Within a couple of weeks, phone and fax-weary Members of Congress were publicly turning against the President. By the middle of August, the White House had all the polls it needed to realize that the amnesty was pulling the new Administration down the tubes. Approval of the President had fallen to 50% (although the disapproval rating was not as high as now).
The White House backed off the amnesty, and Mexican Pres. Fox arrived early September of 2001, whining and demanding that Congress give him his amnesty that Bush was now pulling back.
The terrorist attacks occurred on Sep. 11. Most commentators today say those attacks stopped the inexorable march toward amnesty that was underway. Balderdash. The amnesty troops were in full retreat because of the condemnation from the American public.
So, why didn't the White House learn its lesson? Because somewhere the stakes
are so high on the White House delivering an amnesty in return for something
that it will risk the entire presidency to push it again.
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BUSH LOSING THE SWING VOTER INDEPENDENTS
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Some commentators at the first release of the amnesty plan said it was brilliant
because he was ticking off his conservative base (which has nowhere to go) while
reaching out to new voters, particularly swing voter independents who would
be attracted to Bush's compassionate views toward illegal aliens.
Well, CBS says that most of the President's huge decline in popularity came from -- that's right, Independents.
The really smart media commentators and political advisors continue to think that wanting borders and protection from masses of foreign workers is mainly a concern of really conservative people and that the rest of Americans aren't really bothered by the prospect.
Interestingly, a congressman with very close ties inside the White House told me back in 2001 that Bush's advisors had thought proposing an amnesty would improve his standing with independents and particularly with suburban soccer moms who were swing voters. But the White House's own polling apparently found that both groups absolutely hated the amnesty in 2001.
Apparently, nothing has changed -- either in the common sense of the public
or the recklessness of White House advisors.
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IMMIGRATION PROPOSAL FEEDS THE MOST NEGATIVE
OPINIONS THAT THE PUBLIC HAS ABOUT PRES. BUSH
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CBS polled and found the majority of the public still supporting the President
on:
It found a basically even split on:
CBS found the majority of the public now has negative opinions about the President in terms of:
CBS found that no issue upset the public more than Bush's illegal alien/guestworker proposals, with only one-third of Americans supporting him Bush stands even more alone on his proposal to increase LEGAL immigration. Only 16% of Americans support him on that!
The immigration proposal combined with other events to eliminate all of the boost in popularity that the President gained from the military's capture of Sadam Hussein -- and then some.
Looking over the poll results, one can easily see how Bush's proposals to allow businesses to recruit unlimited numbers of foreign workers from all over the world (with only the smallest of requirements to let Americans have a chance at the low wages offered) helped drag the President's ratings down in a number of other categories.
Not surprisingly since the President's proposals, more Americans (58%) think he cares more about protecting the interests of large corporations while only 30% think he is more interested in protecting ordinary Americans.
Do you see what I see? Assuming that all of those 30% are people who support the President overall, that would mean that at least 20% of the people who still approve of the President nonetheless think Mr. Bush makes decision for the benefit of corporations at the expense of ordinary folk.
CBS found that 57% of Americans believe that Bush policies favor the rich, and only 11% think they favor the middle class (with 1% saying policies favor the poor).
Only 11 percentile of the 50% who support the President think he favors the middle class?
If these perceptions continue, what chance will Mr. Bush have in the fall elections? Continuing to push massive guestworker plans obviously is a policy that will do nothing but solidify those negative opinions and drive more of his current 50% supporters away.