Putting Poll Numbers In Perspective
Peter Wehner at the National Review has an excellent article on how to understand the Obama poll numbers.
Two Gallup polls from March 5-7 2001 and 2009 on Presidents Bush and Obama show Obama at 61% and George W. Bush at 63%.
This debunks the myth that Bush was unpopular at the beginning of his term because of the Supreme Court intervention in his campaign against Gore. This also debunks the myth that Obama is exceptionally popular now.
Two Gallup polls from March 5-7 2001 and 2009 on Presidents Bush and Obama show Obama at 61% and George W. Bush at 63%.
So George W. Bush, at a comparable time in his presidency, was in marginally better shape than Barack Obama is right now, at least based on the Gallup Poll survey.
This debunks the myth that Bush was unpopular at the beginning of his term because of the Supreme Court intervention in his campaign against Gore. This also debunks the myth that Obama is exceptionally popular now.
posted by Matthew Canonicus at
10:53 AM
3 Comments:
The quote said Bush did "marginally better", but 2% is within any polls margin of error, so stastically it's a deadheat.
You're right in pointing out Bush wasn't always unpopular. He started off with reasonable polling, then it completely skyrocketed after 9/11, and then began it's gradual decline to extreme unpopularity. I found this page to have a very nicely designed summary of his opinion polls:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7814441.stm
True, but remember every US president has ended up extremely unpopular. Truman ended with lower poll numbers than George W.
As a political science major the frustrating thing about polls, well, is everything. The wording and the fact that the American people, well, we just are a fickle,:)
Polls are a very dangerous tool to use when basing everything on it in an argument, they are tricky.
That is why politicians do them constantly and know their place. They use them to turn opinion too. Oh, such the game!
I have to admit polling was one of my least favorite parts of my degree. They can make you head spin:)
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