Bush Up

Bush Up - The Minnesota Poll - as liberal an artifact as exists in Minnesota - shows President Bush's job approval at 56 percent in the state.

The Strib ran some positive comments...

"He stands up for what he thinks is right and won't back down to anybody," said poll respondent Dorla Tellerhuis, an auto parts warehouse worker who lives outside of Scandia. "And he's standing up to those people who want to destroy our country."

...and some negative ones...

Virgil Gunter, a retired paper company worker from Grand Rapids, said he believes Bush "is not the man for the job ... He hasn't solved our terrorism - remember how he was going to get that Osama guy? The war's costing a lot, and we have bread lines over here."

Mr. Gunter may unwittingly display the current idea that the young have become more conservative than the old.

Let's see how the Strib analyzes this:

Since September, when the war in Iraq and the economy appeared to be sputtering,

Whoah!

The war in Iraq never "appeared to be sputtering" to anyone with the remotest literacy in the subject - which excludes the Strib and anyone who relies on it for information on the subject, of course.

...the number of Minnesotans who say the nation is headed in the right direction has jumped from 36 percent to 55 percent. They're even more rosy about life in their home state, with 58 percent saying things in Minnesota are headed in the right direction.

Approval for Bush's stewardship of the war, at 58 percent, is higher than his overall job rating. But Minnesotans remain sharply divided on how well he has handled the nation's economy.

It's better than it was in September, when 37 percent approved of Bush's economic performance. But while 47 percent now approve, 45 percent give him a thumbs-down. That puts him where he stood in August 2002.

Jacobs [Larry Jacobs, political science prof at the University of Minnesota] said he believed the economy "remains something the White House must be a little worried about ... Big economic numbers are up, but on everyday pocketbook issues, voters are still a bit sour."

Mr. Jacobs should know that "pocketbook indicators" are trailing issues in any recovery. And while they may be trailing a bit further with this recovery (the recession has technically been over for nearly a year), that will be good news for Bush in Minnesota, barring any further calamities.

I'm dying to see how the DFL spins this news. The DFL (motto - "We loved Howard Dean the first time we saw him - when he was called Paul Wellstone!") seems to be off in its own little world lately.

Of which more next week.

Posted by Mitch at December 24, 2003 05:38 AM