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CNN Live At Daybreak
America's Voice
Aired November 11, 2003 - 06:33 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: It's time to play the numbers game now. Gallup has some new polls out, and we like the fact we can give them to you first. So, let's head right to Princeton, New Jersey, and to Frank Newport.
Good morning -- Frank.
FRANK NEWPORT, GALLUP POLL EDITOR-IN-CHIEF: Good morning, Carol. Good to be with you this morning.
Most important problems facing the country: that's a fascinating question we've been asking at Gallup actually since all the way back in World War II, and we update it every month. Here are the results this month. The key trend is fewer Americans this month are mentioning the economy off the top of their minds as the No. 1 problem than have in any month going all the way back to way earlier this year.
What's happened is it's 20 percent who say the economy. The percent who mentioned war and Iraq as the nation's top problem is actually up some. That's now to 19 percent, almost as high. Unemployment and jobs, another 12 percent mentioned that. Then terrorism and health care and a variety of other ones that we didn't have room to list here.
Again, the key point is fewer Americans mentioned the economy, and we can see why. This is a tracking measure that we, again, ask Americans about every month: Is the economy getting better or getting worse? The numbers have kind of bounced around. But this month, Carol, the gap is there. Look at that: 53 percent optimism, 37 percent say it's getting worse. That's a gap of about 16 points, and that's as wide as we've seen -- the pluses over the minuses, the optimists over the pessimists -- in a long, long time.
So, Americans are picking up on the fact that the economy looks like it's getting better -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Oh, and that's a good thing. Does that mean the president's approval ratings are up?
NEWPORT: Well, they're not up; they're steady. But that's important. They're steady at about 54 percent, so that's about where it's been over the last four times we've asked presidential approval.
I thought I'd show you where his father was back in November of 1991, exactly the same time, a year out from the election. Look at the difference here. On the left-hand side, that's Bush the elder. There is not much difference. Bush the elder was slightly more positive. Bush the elder was on his way down at this point. He was going to descend way below 50 percent within a few months of that point back in November. The current Bush is steady at this point, but there is a remarkable similarity in where the two people were at this point.
COSTELLO: Very interesting. Another interesting question, because there have been some controversy over Dick Cheney lately. Do Americans think that President Bush should keep Dick Cheney around?
NEWPORT: Well, you know, "How Cheney Sold the War" -- that's the cover of "Newsweek" magazine this week, perhaps it's fair to say, less than charitable account of Dick Cheney's involvement in the war.
It's about the same as Dan Quayle. Sixty-nine percent of Republicans say he should stay on the ticket, but 28 percent say Bush should remove him. No sign Bush is going to do that. It's Bush/Cheney '04. For all Americans, of course, a lot of Democrats in there say, sure, get rid of him. It's the left-hand side that matters.
Carol, this is about the same percent who said that Bush the elder should get rid of Quayle back in '91, and, of course, he didn't. And there is no sign Bush is going to get rid of Cheney this time. It looks like it's Bush/Cheney.
COSTELLO: Thats just eerie -- the similarities, I mean, are eerie. But probably they mean nothing, or do they?
NEWPORT: Well, they may mean something. The current Bush administration hopes that the similarities stop pretty soon, because his father went down to defeat, of course.
COSTELLO: All right, Frank Newport live from Princeton, New Jersey, this morning. Many thanks.
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 November 11, 2003 - 06:33 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: It's time to play the numbers game now. Gallup has some new polls out, and we like the fact we can give them to you first. So, let's head right to Princeton, New Jersey, and to Frank Newport.
Good morning -- Frank.
FRANK NEWPORT, GALLUP POLL EDITOR-IN-CHIEF: Good morning, Carol. Good to be with you this morning.
Most important problems facing the country: that's a fascinating question we've been asking at Gallup actually since all the way back in World War II, and we update it every month. Here are the results this month. The key trend is fewer Americans this month are mentioning the economy off the top of their minds as the No. 1 problem than have in any month going all the way back to way earlier this year.
What's happened is it's 20 percent who say the economy. The percent who mentioned war and Iraq as the nation's top problem is actually up some. That's now to 19 percent, almost as high. Unemployment and jobs, another 12 percent mentioned that. Then terrorism and health care and a variety of other ones that we didn't have room to list here.
Again, the key point is fewer Americans mentioned the economy, and we can see why. This is a tracking measure that we, again, ask Americans about every month: Is the economy getting better or getting worse? The numbers have kind of bounced around. But this month, Carol, the gap is there. Look at that: 53 percent optimism, 37 percent say it's getting worse. That's a gap of about 16 points, and that's as wide as we've seen -- the pluses over the minuses, the optimists over the pessimists -- in a long, long time.
So, Americans are picking up on the fact that the economy looks like it's getting better -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Oh, and that's a good thing. Does that mean the president's approval ratings are up?
NEWPORT: Well, they're not up; they're steady. But that's important. They're steady at about 54 percent, so that's about where it's been over the last four times we've asked presidential approval.
I thought I'd show you where his father was back in November of 1991, exactly the same time, a year out from the election. Look at the difference here. On the left-hand side, that's Bush the elder. There is not much difference. Bush the elder was slightly more positive. Bush the elder was on his way down at this point. He was going to descend way below 50 percent within a few months of that point back in November. The current Bush is steady at this point, but there is a remarkable similarity in where the two people were at this point.
COSTELLO: Very interesting. Another interesting question, because there have been some controversy over Dick Cheney lately. Do Americans think that President Bush should keep Dick Cheney around?
NEWPORT: Well, you know, "How Cheney Sold the War" -- that's the cover of "Newsweek" magazine this week, perhaps it's fair to say, less than charitable account of Dick Cheney's involvement in the war.
It's about the same as Dan Quayle. Sixty-nine percent of Republicans say he should stay on the ticket, but 28 percent say Bush should remove him. No sign Bush is going to do that. It's Bush/Cheney '04. For all Americans, of course, a lot of Democrats in there say, sure, get rid of him. It's the left-hand side that matters.
Carol, this is about the same percent who said that Bush the elder should get rid of Quayle back in '91, and, of course, he didn't. And there is no sign Bush is going to get rid of Cheney this time. It looks like it's Bush/Cheney.
COSTELLO: Thats just eerie -- the similarities, I mean, are eerie. But probably they mean nothing, or do they?
NEWPORT: Well, they may mean something. The current Bush administration hopes that the similarities stop pretty soon, because his father went down to defeat, of course.
COSTELLO: All right, Frank Newport live from Princeton, New Jersey, this morning. Many thanks.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
