Regardless of what they say publicly, what I hear among the self- described conservative "Christian" folks here in "the heartland" leads me to think that Bush's credibility among them has pretty much disappeared...excepting those who live in immediate expectation of The Rapture, of course.
As usual, these kinds of polling questions are posed in a way to load the results....
"Are you willing to give up some civil liberties to gain more security?" The assumption is that you can and will gain more security by giving up some civil liberties, right? Put this way, though, many more people will answer positively.
"Do you favor immediate withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq or maintining a military presence until the country is stabilized?" The assumption is that you can stabilize a country through foreign military occupation--a concept that will have made stand on end even the wig hairs of the esteemed gentleman at Mount Vernon. But asking the question in this way tilts the result towards the latter response.
I don't have before me the script of that 1986 episode of YES, PRIME MINISTER, in which Sir Humphrey Appleby (the civil servant) explains the function of polls to his colleagues. In about two minutes, Sir Humphrey responds to a party poll showing 64% of the British public favorable to military conscription with directions on how to put together another poll that would show 64% of them critical of the draft. The point of political polls is not to locate any more than elections are ways for government to reflect public opinion in any way. The important thing is not to do either but to appear to do them.
In that delicious YPM exchange, someone asks, "But surely there are honest polls?" to which Sir Humphrey replies with something like "Yes, but nobody pays much attention to them."
Solidarity! Mark L.
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