Polls are Fun, Especially This One

The Pew Research Center has released a new poll looking at Congress, partisan reactions, and the Bush Administration. The Bush White House has a staggering 33% approval rating, the lowest for the Bush Presidency.

The most amazing aspect of this poll is the erosion of support of the Bush base. Since January of 2005 there has been a 16 point drop in support among conservatives, an 18 point drop among white evangelicals, a 21 point drop among men, and a 22 point drop among rural voters.

It is also interesting to see the trend of the words used to describe Bush. This is an unprompted question that simply asks to use a single word to express your thoughts on President Bush. In February of 2005 38 said Honest, in July that number dropped to 31, and now in March of 2006 only 14 say Bush is honest. The most common words used to describe Bush (in order of 1^st to 5^th) are incompetent, good, idiot, liar, and then Christian. Honest comes in at 6^th.

How will this affect the 2006 midterm elections? It depends on whether congress continues to run away from the Bush Administration. If Bush’s numbers hold or drop, then we might be looking at a 1994 all over again.