Bush Personal Image Tumbles
The presidential primary campaign has been very good for the Democratic Party. Public interest in the race has been relatively high. Americans have a much better impression of the Democratic field than they did just a month ago. And an increasing percentage believes a Democratic candidate will win in November.
The latest Pew Research Center national survey, conducted Feb. 11-16, shows that 45% of Americans have a positive view of the Democratic candidates, up from 31% in January. The number who believe a Democrat will win in the fall has risen 10 points -- from 51% to 61%.
Democrats themselves have become much more confident since the start of their Party's primary campaign, but the shift has been notable among independents as well. Currently, 44% of independents express a positive opinion of the Democratic field, up from 27% last month.
The two leading Democratic candidates have made a favorable impression on the public -- more than six-in-ten give John Kerry and John Edwards positive ratings. Bush's personal image, by contrast, is at the low point of his presidency. His favorability rating has fallen from 72% last April to 53% in the current survey. When asked for one-word descriptions of Bush, equal percentages give positive and negative responses -- a marked change from last May when positive impressions far outnumbered negative ones.
The poll found relatively little public interest in the flap over Bush's National Guard service. Rather, Americans -- especially Democrats -- are much more focused on the fact that no weapons of mass destruction have been found in Iraq.
The survey shows that the vast majority of Americans are now aware of the rising budget deficit. Just 21% believe lower revenues arising from the recent tax cuts have contributed a great deal to the deficit. Far more -- 73% -- primarily blame the war in Iraq for the nation's fiscal imbalance.
View Report: <http://people-press.org/reports/display.php3?ReportID=203>