Strong Kool-Aid: Bush's approval rating among Republicans is 76%

[DeepModem Mom]

USA Today: GOP is abandoning Bush? Not quite
By Richard Benedetto

The Washington punditocracy has proclaimed far and wide that Republicans, disenchanted with the war in Iraq, are abandoning President Bush in droves, leaving him the lamest of lame ducks. However, the latest USA TODAY/Gallup Poll suggests Bush might not be as wounded as he appears — at least not among his party faithful.

The Feb. 9-11 poll puts Bush's job approval at 37%, but among people who identify themselves as Republican or leaning Republican, his approval rating is 76%.

Thus, despite bad news from Baghdad and carefully crafted hand-wringing by high-profile GOP war critics in Congress such as Sen. Chuck Hagel of Nebraska, three of four Republicans in the country are hanging in there with the president.

The poll also shows that rank-and-file Republicans have higher regard for the president than they do Republicans in Congress. They gave GOP lawmakers a 63% job-approval rating, 13 points below Bush's. And 72% of Republicans do not think Bush made a mistake sending U.S. troops to Iraq.

So if congressional Republicans figure the key to re-election in 2008 is taking a hard line against Bush on Iraq, they could be dead wrong. They might lure some independents, but they risk alienating their GOP base. To win, you need solid support from your base plus independents, not independents alone....

***

What does this high approval among Republicans mean for Bush? It means that as long as his party support remains that strong, he won't fall below 30% approval, a depth that would virtually extinguish his political power....

http://www.usatoday.com/printedition/news/20070226/opcomreligion66.art.htm

[tk2kewl]

1. Seems to me this is a good sign...

it must mean many fewer people identify themselves as Republicans if his overall rating is in the 30s

[unpossibles]

6. well, except that it's about half

but both numbers sound too high to me.

[Horse with no Name]

2. So here is how it goes

3 out of 4 Republicans love George Bush.
Which Republicans did you ask? Oh, the ones at AEI. So, how many did you ask? Four? You only asked four and came up with that number?:eyes:

[IsItJustMe]

14. I'm with you on that. LOL. Something fishy about these numbers. Did chimp do the poll?

[niyad]

3. absolute proof that people with and "r" after their names have demonstrated that they are too stupid

to be allowed to exercise the franchise.

[cui bono]

4. I find that hard to believe.

I'm sure I've seen polls with numbers much worse than that for Republican support.

I would love to have a real reason why anyone - barring his corporate cronies - still supports him. One that is factual and makes sense. I don't think I've ever heard one.

[TheCowsCameHome]

5. TheTitanic didn't go down empty, either. The more GOP on board, the merrier

Still not too late go climb aboard.

[PresidentObama]

7. Still, if you lose 24% of your base...thats pretty bad....

Especially for this 'conservative' President whom they LOVED so much back in 04'

[Tempest]

8. Are Repugs really that marginalized?

If 76% of Repugs approval of Bush's job performance, but only 37% of the nation approves of his job performance, the number of people who consider themselves Repugs in the country has taken a real nosedive. Or is my logic flawed?

[featherman]

9. Anyone who's familiar with Benedetto's career and columns knows

he is an active and unapologetic GOP propagandist. Can't take too much of what he writes too seriously. In point of fact, 75% support within your own party is pretty terrible.

[Madspirit]

10. I believe it

Go lurk at one of the Republican forums like Ann Coulter or Rush. They do still love Bush. I would be surprised if otherwise was the case. They are Republicans. Some at those sites do see him as a little too liberal and soft...haha...but they still support him. They wuv him.
Lee

[BlueIris]

11. Yeah, but you can't tell me that if the GOP had someone willing to step up

and lead in Bush's place, they would still be backing him, Cheney's influence or not. Senator McCain? I'm looking at you.

[EST]

12. The problem comes down to a shrinking group of self-

identified publiclowns, although I don't know if the numbers of Is and Ds bear that out, as noted upthread, and the subtle detail that most of the putrid propaganda and pedophile party think bush is bad because he's too liberal.
They have been convinced that cheneybush's treasure wasting is a problem, but, of course, a hated "librul" would be even more profligate. Cheneybush's military policy is lousy because he had a lousy, now departed, adviser in rummy and the real solution is even more conservative-if there is difficulty coming from Sadr city, and it has proven intractable, use a little ol' nyouk-u-lar suthin' or other and turn it into a glass parkin' lot.

This sort of thinking goes on across the board-anything you hate is liberal and that any flaws in your hero must have erupted because said hero has become infected by being too close to those you hate.

Humans are wonderful, except when they suck.

[Rabrrrrrr]

13. Then clearly Republicans are showing their disgust by leaving the party

or at least stopping their identification with Republicans.

That's good news!