Return to Transcripts main page
American Morning
Minding Your Business: It is Not War; It is Economy
Aired March 07, 2003 - 07:45 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.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: When it comes to President Bush's approval rating, a poll shows that it is the economy and not the war issue that matters most.
And for more on this, Andy Serwer is minding our business today on a Friday morning. First the markets from yesterday.
ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" MAGAZINE: Yes.
HEMMER: How did we fare?
SERWER: We fared poorly.
HEMMER: Again.
SERWER: Badly. Triple-digit down on the Dow. Everybody's down here. We are now down 8 percent for the year, Bill, on the Dow. We're at a five-month low.
A key unemployment -- see, listen to me. A key employment number comes out, but it will indicate some unemployment at 8:30 today for the month of February.
The economy is so important to Americans, and it's no wonder, because obviously we've got some problems here. Listening to the president last night speaking, the talk was mostly about war, the questions mostly about war, but the economy seems to be on many Americans' minds. In fact, the president's overall approval rating seems to be suffering somewhat based on people's perceptions about the economy.
I think we have some numbers here from the latest CNN-USA Today- Gallup Poll, which indicates -- you can see here -- over the past six months, the president's approval rating with regard to the economy has declined precipitously. Six months ago, 54 percent of Americans thought the economy was in good shape; now only 34 percent. On the other side back then, 46 percent said the economy was poor. Now 65 percent say it is in poor shape.
So a real flip there, Bill, going on, and that is really hurting the president. There were not a lot of questions directly concerning the economy last night, but it is clearly on Americans' minds.
HEMMER: Are you seeing this in jobs, are you seeing this in the stock market, or is it overall a reflection about what they feel about what's happening in terms of...
SERWER: Well, I think it's an overall situation. Jobs obviously is very much on people's minds.
We want to talk here about what we think about the president's handling of the economy. I would have to say it's tepid, Bill, because there's only so much a president can do, and really in a sense he's a cheerleader trying to instill confidence, and that is a very difficult job.
HEMMER: Indeed it can be. Thank you, Andy.
SERWER: OK, see you later.
HEMMER: See you next hour.
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 March 7, 2003 - 07:45 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: When it comes to President Bush's approval rating, a poll shows that it is the economy and not the war issue that matters most.
And for more on this, Andy Serwer is minding our business today on a Friday morning. First the markets from yesterday.
ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" MAGAZINE: Yes.
HEMMER: How did we fare?
SERWER: We fared poorly.
HEMMER: Again.
SERWER: Badly. Triple-digit down on the Dow. Everybody's down here. We are now down 8 percent for the year, Bill, on the Dow. We're at a five-month low.
A key unemployment -- see, listen to me. A key employment number comes out, but it will indicate some unemployment at 8:30 today for the month of February.
The economy is so important to Americans, and it's no wonder, because obviously we've got some problems here. Listening to the president last night speaking, the talk was mostly about war, the questions mostly about war, but the economy seems to be on many Americans' minds. In fact, the president's overall approval rating seems to be suffering somewhat based on people's perceptions about the economy.
I think we have some numbers here from the latest CNN-USA Today- Gallup Poll, which indicates -- you can see here -- over the past six months, the president's approval rating with regard to the economy has declined precipitously. Six months ago, 54 percent of Americans thought the economy was in good shape; now only 34 percent. On the other side back then, 46 percent said the economy was poor. Now 65 percent say it is in poor shape.
So a real flip there, Bill, going on, and that is really hurting the president. There were not a lot of questions directly concerning the economy last night, but it is clearly on Americans' minds.
HEMMER: Are you seeing this in jobs, are you seeing this in the stock market, or is it overall a reflection about what they feel about what's happening in terms of...
SERWER: Well, I think it's an overall situation. Jobs obviously is very much on people's minds.
We want to talk here about what we think about the president's handling of the economy. I would have to say it's tepid, Bill, because there's only so much a president can do, and really in a sense he's a cheerleader trying to instill confidence, and that is a very difficult job.
HEMMER: Indeed it can be. Thank you, Andy.
SERWER: OK, see you later.
HEMMER: See you next hour.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
