Democrats have been enjoying the President's low approval ratings the way a heroin addict enjoys mainlining. I can scarcely complain about that. Its what I would be doing in their shoes. Since I'm still walking around in mine, I would only point out that the Democrats in Congress are polling even worse. The Wall Street Journal describes the latest Harris Poll numbers for Bush like this:
Bush's current job approval rating stands at 34%, compared with a positive rating of 88% soon after 9/11, 50% at this time last year, and 40% in August.
The comparison with the post 9/11 polls doesn't mean anything--that was an extraordinary situation--but the 50 and 40 do. Bush has clearly had the worst year of his presidency. But look at the numbers for Congress.
Congressional leaders and both parties in Congress have also seen their ratings slip, with Democrats seeing one of the biggest dips in approval, the telephone poll of 1,011 U.S. adults shows.
Vice President Dick Cheney's approval ratings slipped to 30% this month from 35% in August, while Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld's approval ratings dropped to 34% from 40% and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's approval ratings fell to 52% from 57%, according to the poll.
At the same time, only a quarter of Americans polled give Democrats a positive rating in the latest poll, compared with 31% in August, while Republicans' approval ratings fell to 27% from 32%.
Its not hard to interpret Cheney and Rumsfeld's numbers, since they are so clearly tied to the war, and Americans have become very tired of that. Its a little harder to understand why Condi Rice is polling so much better, since she is altogether a part of the same team, and is defending the same policies. But why are Congressional Democrats numbers so low.
I humbly submit that this is because the Democrat's strategy right now is so transparent. With no policy of their own, they have been following the polls with the perfect alignment of a compass needle next to a bar magnet. They may well be succeeding in their purpose, which is to depress Bush's numbers even further. But they are hardly offering an honest alternative to Bush.
By all accounts, next year should be a good year for the Democrats. With a disgruntled public voting in an off-year election in a President's second term, the Democrats ought to be expecting healthy gains. That's me warming up the spin machine in case the GOP does loose control of one or both houses. SDPolitics is definitely not a No Spin Zone. But just right now that doesn't look to be in the cards. And if the Democrats don't win big next time around, what will they have to look forward to?
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