USA Today Blog: Bush's ratings tied to gas prices?

[sabra]

http://blogs.usatoday.com/ondeadline/2006/09/bushs_ratings_t.html

Bush's ratings tied to gas prices?

"When it comes to President Bush's approval rating — the number that measures his political health — one factor seems more powerful than any Oval Office address or legislative initiative," USA TODAY's Susan Page writes.

"It's the price of a gallon of gas. Statisticians who have compared changes in gas prices and Bush's ratings through his presidency have found a steady relationship: As gas prices rise, his ratings fall. As gas prices fall, his ratings rise."

Click into the story to see a chart mapping gas prices against Bush's USA TODAY/Gallup approval numbers since he entered office. (The most recent poll results are here.) What do you think of the relationship?

[pooja]

1. The polls are also rigged too. There isn't anyone I know that

even supports him anymore. Or trusts govt with anything.

[Phredicles]

2. If true (and I wouldn't be surprised), it's doubly sad because

it's not like prices are THAT low. Granted, I'm in LA, where, as in most solidly "blue" areas, they remain fairly high for some mysterious reason. But nation wide, they're still quite bit higher than we used to take for granted. I drive a Corolla, and it's been, gosh, 2 or 3 years since I was able to fill the thing up and get change from a $20.

So now people are going "Woohoo, gas is only an arm instead of an arm and a leg! Let's give the Rethugs another chance!"? It is hard sometimes to shake the impression that a controlling plurality of the electorate really are total fucking morons who wouldn't recognize their own best interest if it came up wearing a neon sign and bit them on the ball sack.

[JustFiveMoreMinutes]

3. In 5th Grade, a bully used to punch me every day really hard

... I really really hated him.

In 6th Grade, he still punched me but not so hard

... I started to look at him differently

In 7th Grade, he stopped punching me altogether, but would trip me in the hall every chance he got.

... THEN I started thinking he was a pretty cool guy!


<invented story for dramatics & satire sake>