Say Anything Blog

Interesting…

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President George W. Bush enjoyed a modest rise in public approval after his recent political offensive on Iraq and security, but voters still favor Democrats in the November 7 congressional election, according to a Reuters/Zogby poll released on Thursday.

Six weeks before voters decide which party controls the U.S. Congress, a majority thinks the country is on the wrong track and nearly three-quarters give the Republican-led Congress negative marks for its job performance.

Democrats have an edge of 9 percentage points, 42 percent to 33 percent, over Republicans when voters were asked which party’s candidate they will support in November, the poll found. But voters were evenly split when asked which party they preferred to lead Congress.

The national poll, taken Friday through Monday, found 20 percent of voters still undecided about their congressional vote, leaving room for a momentum shift in the next six weeks. Democrats must pick up 15 House of Representatives seats and six Senate seats in November to reclaim majorities in each chamber.

Public doubts about Iraq, Bush’s low ratings and pessimism about the country’s future have fueled predictions that Republicans will lose seats in November and are in danger of losing control of at least the House.

But Zogby said Republicans could benefit from the climb in Bush’s approval, sparked by increased support among his base voters. The poll found 42 percent of voters thought Bush’s job performance was excellent or good, up from 39 percent two weeks ago and 34 percent in mid-August.

“The president and the Republicans are still on the ropes, but they certainly seem to have hit bottom and bounced back,” Zogby said. “This is still very competitive.”

Just to pull a few facts out from that dizzying spin:

1. Half poll respondents still want Republicans to run Congress.
2. 20% of poll respondents are still undecided about who they’ll vote for come November.
3. In about a month the President has seen an 8% swing in his approval numbers.

Seems to me that despite all the doom and gloom over Republican election chances in November, the GOP is resurgent and on its way to holding onto a majority in both houses.  Not that they really deserve it, but that’s still better than having Democrats in charge and raising taxes/giving up in the war on terror.