It's scary, isn't it?
WASHINGTON - To see the type of person who still backs him, President Bush need only look in the mirror. The president fits the composite of today's Bush supporter: a conservative, white, Republican man, an evangelical Christian who goes to church regularly.
Hammered by bad news in Iraq, congressional investigations and recent failed domestic initiatives such as immigration reform, Bush's job approval rating has spiraled to record lows for his presidency. Two-thirds of Republicans and about one-third of independents still support him, but virtually no Democrats are left in Bush's camp.
Really, were there ever any Democrats in his camp (besides Sen. Joe Lieberman)? After Bush *cough* stole the 2000 election and all...
There's no mention of the recent bump in Bush's approval rating (from 28% in June to 31%), nor the increase in Americans who think we were right to go into Iraq (from 35% in May to 42%). And don't forget Congress' rating on Iraq...a whopping 3%!
There's also the requisite "bad news in Iraq" claim, but recent developments show that the news is actually getting better. Why else would House Majority Whip James Clyburne (D-S.C.) indicate that positive news from General Petraeus would be "a real big problem for us"?
Moving right along, the story indicates that some Republicans are falling off the wagon because of Iraq.
On the other hand, a few percentage points of Republican voters have discarded the GOP label over their opposition to the war. It's unclear whether these Republicans have abandoned the GOP for good, or whether they just don't want to be labeled "Republican" when they talk to pollsters, said Robert Y. Shapiro, a Columbia University political science professor who specializes in public opinion and politics.
Still, he predicted that Bush's strongest Republican supporters probably won't abandon him unless there is a major scandal, they get sufficiently upset about the Bush administration's penchant for secrecy, or if the flap over the firing of U.S. prosecutors knocks Attorney General Alberto Gonzales out of his job.
"That might warrant those strong supporters leaving him, but that hasn't happened," Shapiro said. "These are the people who have really stuck by him. We don't know if he's hit rock bottom."
Frankly, the recent immigration bill that Bush backed could have been considered a major scandal. But the bill failed and life, and the electorate, moves on. But when Bush hits that "rock bottom," you will be among the first to know. I guarantee it!
