>During his public remarks here, Bush all but acknowledged that the
>participants on stage were chosen precisely because they support his
>policies.
>
>"But you're going to say: `Well, of course, they just pick the upbeat
>people,' " Bush said, adding: "Well, the truth of the matter is, people
>are pretty upbeat all over the country. That's what I'm here to report
>to you."
>http://tinyurl.com/26jrm
A report released by Gallup this morning:
>February 17, 2004
>Americans: Life Is Good and Will Only Improve
>
>by Jeffrey M. Jones, Gallup Poll Managing Editor
>
>Most Americans rate their current personal lives fairly positively.
>They tend to believe that their present situations are better than
>their past, and when looking ahead five years, they tend to believe
>their lives will get even better in the future.
>
>These are some of the major findings of Gallup's annual "striving
>scale" measurement -- a time-honored method of assessing the quality
>of life experienced by Americans. Using an 11-point scale, where
>zero is "the worst possible life" and 10 is "the best possible
>life," most Americans use the positive end of the scale (scores from
>6 to 10) to rate their current situations.
>
>According to Gallup's annual Mood of the Nation survey, conducted
>Jan. 12-15, only 59% of Americans think their lives five years ago
>rated a 6 to 10 on the scale, compared with 73% who rate their
>current lives at this level, and 86% who forecast their lives will
>be this positive five years from now.