AP-Ipsos poll: Conservative Base Unhappy
with Bush
Yahoo News/AP
By WILL LESTER, Associated Press Writer
October 7, 2005
WASHINGTON - Evangelicals, Republican women, Southerners and other critical
groups in President Bush's political coalition are worried about the direction
the nation is headed and disappointed with his performance, an AP-Ipsos poll
found.
That unease could be a troubling sign for a White House already struggling
to keep the Republican Party base from slipping over Supreme Court nominee
Harriet Miers, Gulf Coast spending projects, immigration and other issues.
"Politically, this is very serious for the president," said James Thurber, a
political scientist at American University. "If the base of his party has lost
faith, that could spell trouble for his policy agenda and for the party
generally."
Sentiment about the nation's direction has sunk to new depths at a time
people are anxious about Iraq, the economy, gas prices and the management of
billions of dollars being spent for recovery from the nation's worst natural
disaster.
Only 28 percent say the country is headed in the right direction while
two-thirds, 66 percent, say it is on the wrong track, the poll found.
"There is a growing, deep-seated discontentment and pessimism about the
direction of the country," said Republican strategist Tony Fabrizio, who
believes the reasons for their pessimism differ for those in one political
party or another.
Among those most likely to have lost confidence about the nation's direction
over the past year are white evangelicals, down 30 percentage points since
November, Republican women, down 28 points, Southerners, down 26 points, and
suburban men, down 20 points.
Bush's supporters are uneasy about issues such as federal deficits,
immigration and his latest nomination for the Supreme Court. Social
conservatives are concerned about his choice of Miers, a relatively unknown
lawyer who has most recently served as White House counsel.
"Bush is trying to get more support generally from the American public by
seeming more moderate and showing he's a strong leader at the same time he has
a rebellion within his own party," Thurber said. "The far right is starting to
be very open about their claim that he's not a real conservative."
The president's job approval is mired at the lowest level of his presidency
— 39 percent. While four of five Republicans say they approve of Bush's
job performance — enthusiasm in that support has dipped over the last
year.
In December 2004, soon after his re-election, almost two-thirds of
Republicans strongly approved of the job done by Bush. The AP-Ipsos survey
found that just half in his own party feel that way now.
The intensity of support for Bush's job performance has also dropped sharply
among white evangelicals, Southerners, people from rural areas and suburban
men.
"We've lost focus on where we're supposed to be going and not able to
respond to the crises that affect the people of this country," said David
Ernest, a Republican from San Ramon, Calif., who is angry about the
government's response to Hurricane Katrina. "We're mired in a Middle Eastern
adventure and we've taken the focus off of our own country."
Bush has tried to reassure conservatives about his Supreme Court nominee.
He's also trying to counter critics of the war by tying U.S. efforts in Iraq to
the larger war against terrorism. And he's made frequent trips to the areas
devastated by hurricanes Katrina and Rita to offset criticism of the
government's initial response to Katrina.
Of all the problems facing the country, the war in Iraq is the one that
troubles some Bush supporters the most.
"I approve of what the president is doing, but it's a mixed decision," said
Richard Saulinski, a Republican from Orland Park, Ill. "We should get out of
Iraq. It seems like there's no light at the end of the tunnel. I just think
we're dealing with a culture we don't really understand."
The poll of 1,000 adults was conducted by Ipsos, an international polling
company, from Monday to Wednesday and has a margin of sampling error of plus or
minus 3 percentage points.
AP manager of news surveys Trevor Tompson contributed to this story.
On the Net:
Ipsos: http://www.ap-ipsosresults.com
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