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Where Does President Bush Stand with American People?
Aired January 28, 2003 - 06:52 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: We've been talking a lot about President Bush's State of the Union address that will happen at 9:01 Eastern time tonight. But where does President Bush stand with the American people as he prepares for that big speech?
We want to check in with Gallup poll editor-in-chief Frank Newport for the answer.
Good morning, Frank.
FRANK NEWPORT, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF, GALLUP POLL: Good morning, Carol.
COSTELLO: So you're going to start with what kind of job Americans think the president is doing?
NEWPORT: Well, that's an excellent question. That's our classic job approval question. It's quite interesting because he gets a better overall approval rating, Carol, than he does when we ask how he's doing on the two specific things he's going to address tonight, the economy and international affairs.
Here's the overall job approval rating. Of course, you've seen this before, the big jump up, the rally effect after 9/11. Look on the right hand side. Five polls here at CNN/"USA Today"/Gallup poll we've asked in January. He's averaged 60 percent across those five polls. So he's stabilized at about 60 percent overall.
Look at the specifics, when we ask about handling the economy and then we ask about handling international affairs. This is the economy, down to just 46 percent approval, see it on the right hand side there. Now let's look at international and world affairs. He's down to 50 percent on that.
So on the two subcomponents, not doing as well. That means, Carol, he needs to explain specifically what he's doing about the economy and international affairs in his speech tonight.
COSTELLO: Yes, I think many Americans would be grateful for specifics tonight.
OK, so which does the public rank as more important, though, the economy or Iraq?
NEWPORT: Well, I think the president's at least listening to the people through some mechanism because we keep hearing he's going to talk more about domestic affairs in his speech, or at least equally, and that's what the public wants. We gave them that choice over the weekend and 52 percent say it's the economy that's more important right now, rather than Iraq per se.
Why? Well, look at this. Consumer confidence is going to be released a little later today by the Conference Board. Our own measure of it shows if you follow that red line, we're now up to 31 percent rating the economy poor and just 20 percent on the lower right hand corner there rating it excellent or good. And these are the worst numbers on rating the economy that we've had at Gallup since 1993. Obviously, the public wants him to say what he's going to do about it.
COSTELLO: Oh, you're not kidding.
OK, one more question. We hear a lot about giving the weapons inspectors more time in Iraq. The president doesn't really like that idea. But what do the American people feel about that?
NEWPORT: Well, it's fairly consistent, Carol. From all the polling that we've reviewed, the public sides with giving the inspectors more time. We gave them an explicit choice over the weekend. It was fairly complicated wording, but here's a summary of it. Fifty-six percent say inspectors more time. Forty-one percent say Iraq has had enough time. Bush obviously has to address this tonight. In fact, when we asked the public has Bush adequately explained his policies on Iraq, you can see it just breaks even.
So all of this leads to the point where the president is going to have to address the economy tonight, very, very importantly, and also tell the American public why he wants to move so quick...
COSTELLO: Whoa, we've lost Frank Newport. But hopefully you got all of that information and, of course, we'll all be watching President Bush's State of the Union speech at 9:01 Eastern time tonight.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired January 28, 2003 - 06:52 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: We've been talking a lot about President Bush's State of the Union address that will happen at 9:01 Eastern time tonight. But where does President Bush stand with the American people as he prepares for that big speech?
We want to check in with Gallup poll editor-in-chief Frank Newport for the answer.
Good morning, Frank.
FRANK NEWPORT, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF, GALLUP POLL: Good morning, Carol.
COSTELLO: So you're going to start with what kind of job Americans think the president is doing?
NEWPORT: Well, that's an excellent question. That's our classic job approval question. It's quite interesting because he gets a better overall approval rating, Carol, than he does when we ask how he's doing on the two specific things he's going to address tonight, the economy and international affairs.
Here's the overall job approval rating. Of course, you've seen this before, the big jump up, the rally effect after 9/11. Look on the right hand side. Five polls here at CNN/"USA Today"/Gallup poll we've asked in January. He's averaged 60 percent across those five polls. So he's stabilized at about 60 percent overall.
Look at the specifics, when we ask about handling the economy and then we ask about handling international affairs. This is the economy, down to just 46 percent approval, see it on the right hand side there. Now let's look at international and world affairs. He's down to 50 percent on that.
So on the two subcomponents, not doing as well. That means, Carol, he needs to explain specifically what he's doing about the economy and international affairs in his speech tonight.
COSTELLO: Yes, I think many Americans would be grateful for specifics tonight.
OK, so which does the public rank as more important, though, the economy or Iraq?
NEWPORT: Well, I think the president's at least listening to the people through some mechanism because we keep hearing he's going to talk more about domestic affairs in his speech, or at least equally, and that's what the public wants. We gave them that choice over the weekend and 52 percent say it's the economy that's more important right now, rather than Iraq per se.
Why? Well, look at this. Consumer confidence is going to be released a little later today by the Conference Board. Our own measure of it shows if you follow that red line, we're now up to 31 percent rating the economy poor and just 20 percent on the lower right hand corner there rating it excellent or good. And these are the worst numbers on rating the economy that we've had at Gallup since 1993. Obviously, the public wants him to say what he's going to do about it.
COSTELLO: Oh, you're not kidding.
OK, one more question. We hear a lot about giving the weapons inspectors more time in Iraq. The president doesn't really like that idea. But what do the American people feel about that?
NEWPORT: Well, it's fairly consistent, Carol. From all the polling that we've reviewed, the public sides with giving the inspectors more time. We gave them an explicit choice over the weekend. It was fairly complicated wording, but here's a summary of it. Fifty-six percent say inspectors more time. Forty-one percent say Iraq has had enough time. Bush obviously has to address this tonight. In fact, when we asked the public has Bush adequately explained his policies on Iraq, you can see it just breaks even.
So all of this leads to the point where the president is going to have to address the economy tonight, very, very importantly, and also tell the American public why he wants to move so quick...
COSTELLO: Whoa, we've lost Frank Newport. But hopefully you got all of that information and, of course, we'll all be watching President Bush's State of the Union speech at 9:01 Eastern time tonight.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
