(WSJ Poll) Bush Gains Ground on Economy, But Iraq Still Tops Voters' Agenda

[sabra]

http://online.wsj.com/public/article/SB116233337765009339-QGQXx0J9DNu_xbzS8Iyr6tUbTfM_20061130.html?mod=tff_main_tff_top

Bush Gains Ground on Economy,
But Iraq Still Tops Voters' Agenda

A week before Election Day, a new poll shows President Bush getting better marks for his handling of the economy -- an issue Republicans are emphasizing in the run-up to Tuesday's vote -- but voters' anxieties about Iraq continue to dominate their concerns.

The latest Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll shows Mr. Bush, buoyed by a rising stock market and falling gasoline prices, essentially breaking even on the economy, with 46% of voters approving his stewardship and 48% disapproving. That's a gain from 39% approval and 56% disapproval in June.

But as Mr. Bush's party fights to retain control of both houses of Congress, the violence in Baghdad in recent weeks has further darkened Americans' mood about Iraq -- the issue voters say is most important in their election decision-making. The result: Voters want Democrats, rather than Republicans, to control Congress by 52% to 37%, a 15-point margin. The spread matches the widest ever recorded on this question in a Journal/NBC poll.

"Iraq sits in the middle of this election," says Bill McInturff, the Republican pollster who helps conduct the Journal/NBC survey. While Republicans may welcome voters' improving attitudes toward the economy, adds his Democratic counterpart, Peter Hart, "they're getting swamped on the issue of Iraq." (See related article.)

[whistle]

1. Bush's economy is based on the war and military spending

...don't they get it?

[0007]

2. 'O Boy, a real marker on reality. What a fucking joke the WSJ

money lords are, 'eh?

[Double T]

3. Falling oil and gasoline prices will increase AFTER November 7th......

WHEN OPEC plans to cut oil production. The 12,000+ level in the stock market is not likely to be sustainable with Q3 and October consumer results. National debt continues to skyrocket upward, trade deficits continue increasing with each new reporting month, US manufacturing and jobs continue to be outsourced to other countries; WHERE is this great bush economy that HE so willing takes credit for????? Like everything bushco, the great economy is a manipulated sham.

[Demeter]

4. The Only Ground Bush Gained Is In Paraguay

where he plans to hide out for the rest of his life when treason trials and the International Criminal Court War Crimes trials near.

[raccoon]

5. Sure would like to know the socioeconomic status of the pollees.

My guess is they're on the upper rungs of the ladder.