The numbers game (and a Howler moment)

I've been avoiding discussion of public opinion polls concerning Fearless Leader. After all, with the next elections more than a year off, they aren't going to give us much of an idea of how things might play out.

However, it seems significant that his numbers keep dropping. His approval rating has been bouncing around in the forties for quite a while now, but they don't seem to be stabilizing.

Americans' approval of President Bush's handling of Iraq is at its lowest level yet, according to an AP-Ipsos poll that also found fewer than half now think he's honest. . . .

But the portion of people who view his confidence as arrogance has increased from 49 percent in January to 56 percent now.

"This country is a monarchy," said Charles Nuutinen, a 62-year-old independent from Greenville, Wis. "He's turning this country into Saudi Arabia. He does what he wants. He doesn't care what the people want."

Six in 10 said they think the country is headed down the wrong track, despite some encouraging economic news in recent weeks.

Finally people are wising up to the dire situation into which this administration's Custer-esque "leadership" is taking us.

UPDATE: Shortly after writing this, I caught yesterday's Daily Howler post. Very encouraging.

We’re wondering if a fever has broken. The two-year trashing of Candidate Gore resulted from the press corps’ war against Clinton; his ten blow jobs had driven them wild, and they took it out on his vile successor. No, they didn’t treat Kerry as badly, but they still were all too happy to adopt the RNC “flip-flop” framework. But here’s our guess: At long last, the mainstream press has noticed something: The Bush II reign has been a disaster. And this disaster has been so extreme that they’re even dropping their famous preference for a certain tired old script. To our ear, Matthews wanted to play an old game. But Klein and Bumiller just wouldn’t go, suggesting that a different day may be dawning for major Dem hopefuls.