Not-so-awful news for the president. He’s still unpopular, but not in free-fall. The Congress is less popular: with only 37 percent approval, boding ill for Republicans in 2006, when they are due for a market correction. Democrats are mad at their leaders for not opposing Bush more aggressively. Ditto, oddly enough, independents. But on the crucial issue, there’s good news for Bush, it seems to me:
Public attitudes toward the war have not changed significantly since the first of the year, the poll found. Slightly more than four in 10 – 42 percent – approved of the job Bush is doing in Iraq; 57 percent disapproved, unchanged in recent months. Slightly more than half – 53 percent – said the war was not worth it, while 46 percent said it was, identical to the results of a Post-ABC poll two months ago. By a 51 percent to 38 percent ratio, the public said the United States is winning the war, despite mounting casualties and insurgent attacks.
A majority (54 percent) continued to say the United States should keep military forces in Iraq until civil order is restored there; 44 percent said U.S. forces should be withdrawn. Six in 10 opposed announcing a timetable for withdrawal. Only about one in eight — 13 percent — said U.S. forces should be withdrawn immediately.
I don’t think the administration can blame the press or the public for dissatisfaction with the conduct of the Iraq war. the public has been patient and supportive, especially of the troops. The Congressional opposition has been largely meek. Bush has been given a chance to make the war work. And he will and should be held responsible if it is ultimately deemed a failure.
The Dish 