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CNN Live Today

Bush Approval

Aired October 14, 2003 - 10:35   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.


DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: We're going to take a closer look right now at poll numbers that show a surge in President Bush's approval rating.
For that, we turn to our senior political analyst Bill Schneider, joining us from Washington.

Bill, good morning.

WILLIAM SCHNEIDER, CNN SR. POLITICAL ANALYST: Good morning, Daryn.

KAGAN: Let's go right to the numbers. The first question that's in the CNN/"USA Today"/Gallup poll, asking these people, do you approval of President Bush's handling of job as president.

SCHNEIDER: What you can see here, Daryn, in the middle of September, the president's job approval rating had dipped to 50 percent. Now that's the danger point, Democrats were waiting breathlessly for that number to dip below 50 percent, because then he would be in trouble for re-election.

But what happened now, among all Americans, his approval has jumped to 56 percent, reversing trend, just in the nick of time. And why did that happen? Well, take a look at the high-income people on right. The big jump in the president's job ratings was among the high-income people, people earning over $75,000 a year, who went from 45 percent approval in mid September to 64 percent, a 19 percent bounce. Why did it go up so much among wealthier Americans? Could be because they keep an eye on the stock market. And the stock market is doing very well this year. It recovered most of its losses since 2001, and it ended just this week at an all-time high for the year. So people who keep an eye on the stock market, wealthier American, are pretty happy.

KAGAN: And what about what kind of impact Arnold Schwarzenegger's run in California has had on President Bush?

SCHNEIDER: Well that's interesting, aside from high income people, the other group where we noticed the big jump in President Bush's job rating were among people in the West. Now For the past few weeks, they have been absolutely absorbed by the Arnold Schwarzenegger story. He's taken all the attention. There hasn't been a lot of attention to President Bush, his problems, the economy, Iraq; that's been an inside the paper story. Arnold has been all over the front pages. So there could be what I call the Terminator effect, namely he's absorbed so much attention, voters haven't been paying a lot of attention to President Bush, and one result might be they are not as angry at Bush as they were a few weeks ago.

KAGAN: It will be interesting to happen when President Bush is in California and the two do appear together. Let's talk economy now, people ask how do you think the economy is doing, how did they respond to that?

SCHNEIDER: Well, optimistically, in a single word. Only 44 percent think the me is doing well right now, but that number jumps right noticeably, 64 percent say they think things will be good in the country a year from now. And that optimism is concentrated, as you might guess, among wealthier people, who have a very rosy outlook for the economy. When the stock market rises, it produces what's called the wealth effect. It doesn't necessarily put money in people's pockets immediately, but they feel better off, they feel more optimistic and that seems to be helping President Bush.

KAGAN: All right, Bill Schneider in Washington, thank you for that. Always appreciate your insight and in having you sit in. Appreciate that.

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 14, 2003 - 10:35   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: We're going to take a closer look right now at poll numbers that show a surge in President Bush's approval rating.
For that, we turn to our senior political analyst Bill Schneider, joining us from Washington.

Bill, good morning.

WILLIAM SCHNEIDER, CNN SR. POLITICAL ANALYST: Good morning, Daryn.

KAGAN: Let's go right to the numbers. The first question that's in the CNN/"USA Today"/Gallup poll, asking these people, do you approval of President Bush's handling of job as president.

SCHNEIDER: What you can see here, Daryn, in the middle of September, the president's job approval rating had dipped to 50 percent. Now that's the danger point, Democrats were waiting breathlessly for that number to dip below 50 percent, because then he would be in trouble for re-election.

But what happened now, among all Americans, his approval has jumped to 56 percent, reversing trend, just in the nick of time. And why did that happen? Well, take a look at the high-income people on right. The big jump in the president's job ratings was among the high-income people, people earning over $75,000 a year, who went from 45 percent approval in mid September to 64 percent, a 19 percent bounce. Why did it go up so much among wealthier Americans? Could be because they keep an eye on the stock market. And the stock market is doing very well this year. It recovered most of its losses since 2001, and it ended just this week at an all-time high for the year. So people who keep an eye on the stock market, wealthier American, are pretty happy.

KAGAN: And what about what kind of impact Arnold Schwarzenegger's run in California has had on President Bush?

SCHNEIDER: Well that's interesting, aside from high income people, the other group where we noticed the big jump in President Bush's job rating were among people in the West. Now For the past few weeks, they have been absolutely absorbed by the Arnold Schwarzenegger story. He's taken all the attention. There hasn't been a lot of attention to President Bush, his problems, the economy, Iraq; that's been an inside the paper story. Arnold has been all over the front pages. So there could be what I call the Terminator effect, namely he's absorbed so much attention, voters haven't been paying a lot of attention to President Bush, and one result might be they are not as angry at Bush as they were a few weeks ago.

KAGAN: It will be interesting to happen when President Bush is in California and the two do appear together. Let's talk economy now, people ask how do you think the economy is doing, how did they respond to that?

SCHNEIDER: Well, optimistically, in a single word. Only 44 percent think the me is doing well right now, but that number jumps right noticeably, 64 percent say they think things will be good in the country a year from now. And that optimism is concentrated, as you might guess, among wealthier people, who have a very rosy outlook for the economy. When the stock market rises, it produces what's called the wealth effect. It doesn't necessarily put money in people's pockets immediately, but they feel better off, they feel more optimistic and that seems to be helping President Bush.

KAGAN: All right, Bill Schneider in Washington, thank you for that. Always appreciate your insight and in having you sit in. Appreciate that.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com