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CNN Live At Daybreak
America's Voice: President's Approval Ratings Up
Aired October 10, 2003 - 06:37 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 LIN, CNN ANCHOR: Things are looking up in the polls for President Bush. Gallup editor-in-chief Frank Newport is live with the latest numbers for us.
Frank, good morning. How long has it been since Mr. Bush has seen an upturn in the polls?
FRANK NEWPORT, GALLUP POLL EDITOR-IN-CHIEF: Well, he's been going down the last couple of polls that we've taken. He was at 59 percent. I'll show you the numbers. Then down to 52. Been at that 50 percent point in job approval, which is critical for an incumbent. He doesn't want to go below that.
But, our poll we just finished on Wednesday night of this week, Bush approval, job approval, our classic Gallup measure back up to 55 percent.
Why? I think probably it maybe had to do with Arnold Schwarzenegger. All of the attention was on California. It took the attention away from criticism of President Bush from Democratic candidates and from news media pointing out various things and that may have something to do with that.
I don't think it's Iraq yet. He's on a PR offensive, and we don't see that in our data. I don't think it's the economy, because look at this. Bush approval handling of the economy, Carol: 45. And now in our most recent poll: 42 percent.
So, that's quite a bit lower than his overall approval ratings, so the public is not giving him credit, say, for the stock market upticking yet. So, I think it's probably a little diversionary activity.
We'll keep monitoring this. These presidential job approval ratings go up and down, but at least for the short term, good news for the White House. The slide has been arrested, Carol.
LIN: Yes, you bet. All right, in the meantime, who is leading in the Democratic pack?
NEWPORT: Well, there is no huge front runner. That's my conclusion. New, General Clark -- you mentioned that just a moment ago -- moved to the top of the national polls at 21 percent, but Dean is right behind at 16 percent, Lieberman and Kerry, 13 and 13 below that, and then Gephardt at 8 percent. So, no major front runner at this point. Carol, one point is you don't see Senator John Edwards on this list nationally. He's down at just 2 percent of the vote, so he's not doing well across the country. Of course, he's leading in South Carolina next to his native North Carolina. We'll see what happens.
LIN: Oh, plenty of time. Plenty of time before the season begin. Thank so much, Frank. Good to see you.
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 October 10, 2003 - 06:37 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: Things are looking up in the polls for President Bush. Gallup editor-in-chief Frank Newport is live with the latest numbers for us.
Frank, good morning. How long has it been since Mr. Bush has seen an upturn in the polls?
FRANK NEWPORT, GALLUP POLL EDITOR-IN-CHIEF: Well, he's been going down the last couple of polls that we've taken. He was at 59 percent. I'll show you the numbers. Then down to 52. Been at that 50 percent point in job approval, which is critical for an incumbent. He doesn't want to go below that.
But, our poll we just finished on Wednesday night of this week, Bush approval, job approval, our classic Gallup measure back up to 55 percent.
Why? I think probably it maybe had to do with Arnold Schwarzenegger. All of the attention was on California. It took the attention away from criticism of President Bush from Democratic candidates and from news media pointing out various things and that may have something to do with that.
I don't think it's Iraq yet. He's on a PR offensive, and we don't see that in our data. I don't think it's the economy, because look at this. Bush approval handling of the economy, Carol: 45. And now in our most recent poll: 42 percent.
So, that's quite a bit lower than his overall approval ratings, so the public is not giving him credit, say, for the stock market upticking yet. So, I think it's probably a little diversionary activity.
We'll keep monitoring this. These presidential job approval ratings go up and down, but at least for the short term, good news for the White House. The slide has been arrested, Carol.
LIN: Yes, you bet. All right, in the meantime, who is leading in the Democratic pack?
NEWPORT: Well, there is no huge front runner. That's my conclusion. New, General Clark -- you mentioned that just a moment ago -- moved to the top of the national polls at 21 percent, but Dean is right behind at 16 percent, Lieberman and Kerry, 13 and 13 below that, and then Gephardt at 8 percent. So, no major front runner at this point. Carol, one point is you don't see Senator John Edwards on this list nationally. He's down at just 2 percent of the vote, so he's not doing well across the country. Of course, he's leading in South Carolina next to his native North Carolina. We'll see what happens.
LIN: Oh, plenty of time. Plenty of time before the season begin. Thank so much, Frank. Good to see you.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
