The State of the Union is usually a chance for a President to increase his approval ratings, with all the applause and grand ideas laid out before the Congress and the nation. The touching and heartfelt appearances by someone in the audience that is or could be affected by plan A or B is always nice icing on the cake. However this was Bush's last S.O.T.U. address and hardly anyone likes him, so could this be his last chance to win some people over?
Nope:
The dour public mood seems to chiefly reflect distress over the doddering economy, which has seen job cuts, financial market slides and real estate losses stoke recession fears. Bush's approval for handling the economy dove to 29 percent, a slide of 4 percentage points in a month and matching his low on that issue, with noticeable slumps among middle-income people, Southerners and city residents.[...]
Yet Bush's acceptance by his own party is at bottom in the AP-Ipsos poll. Just 61 percent of Republicans gave Bush positive reviews; his previous low was 65 percent last month. Only 28 percent of them expressed strong approval.
About one in 10 Democrats and three in 10 independents gave Bush positive marks.
Wow one in ten Democrats approve? Who are these people and what rocks do they live under?
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