The Daily Sandwich

"We have to learn the lesson that intellectual honesty is fundamental for everything we cherish." -Sir Karl Popper

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Location: Boston, Massachusetts, United States

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Thursday, November 10, 2005

Fox puts G-Dub at new low. New low for Fox, anyway.

I've actually heard some right-wing callers on this and that progressive show referring to polls as cooked-up lies. It makes for a nice way to deny reality when the chips are down, but even that bit of self-delusion is going to start taking a beating with reports like this one:

Today, 36 percent of Americans approve and 53 percent disapprove of the job Bush is doing as president. For comparison, two weeks ago 41 percent said they approved and 51 percent disapproved, and at the beginning of his second term 50 percent approved and 40 percent disapproved (January 25-26).

Until this week, Bush's approval rating had been at 40 percent or above — buoyed in large part by consistent strong support among Republicans; however, in mid-October approval among Republicans fell below 80 percent for the first time of his presidency and now sits at 72 percent.

In addition, Bush's approval rating is down by double digits among other demographic groups. Since the beginning of his second term, his approval is down 26 percentage points among independents, 16 points among women, 15 points among whites and 11 points among men.

Until this week he was "over 40 percent approval"? Not according to any other polling agency in the nation. If Fox puts it at 36, is it safe to say it's more along the lines of 33-34? And where will Bush apologists turn next?

I'm as wary as anyone of all the good news for Democrats, but when even Fox can't put approval numbers in the spin cycle....