Hugh Hewitt directs his readers to the latest results of the Pew Research Center poll, released today for the polling period of 6/3-9. Far from the common perception that Bush has faded, the Pew poll shows resurgent numbers for Bush in most categories, especially in war support:

Americans are paying markedly less attention to Iraq than in the last two months. At the same time, their opinions about the war have become more positive. The number of Americans who think the U.S. military effort is going well has jumped from 46% in May to 57%, despite ongoing violence in Iraq and the widening prison abuse scandal. And the percentage of the public who believes it was right to go to war inched up to 55%, from 51% in May.

The new Pew survey indicates that many Americans are becoming less connected to the news about Iraq and possibly more hardened to events there. Just 39% say they are tracking developments in Iraq very closely – down 15 points since April and the lowest level this year. In addition, 35% say that people they know are becoming less emotionally involved with the news from Iraq, a sharp increase from 26% last month.

As the handoff to the interim Iraqi government approaches, Americans have already begun to emotionally detach from events in Iraq, which may work to Bush's favor but doesn't speak terribly well of Americans. Those who do keep their eye on news have dramatically shifted their position since the last Pew poll. Where support for the Iraq mission had dropped to as low as 51% in May, the number now is 55% while opposition has dropped from 42% to 38%, giving Bush a 17-point spread, almost double from the last poll.

Bush has also reversed the numbers on the presidential race, going from five points down -- outside the margin of error -- to two points up, 48-46 in a two-way race. He leads by four, or just outside the margin of error, when Nader is added to the race. His base numbers have improved as well; the percentage of "pro-Bush" and "anti-Kerry" voters both increased, by two and one points respectively. In comparison, Kerry dropped four points and his "anti-Bush" numbers dropped five points, a serious issue for a candidate whose strongest argument thus far is Bush hatred.

Read the entire results. The news is not all good for Bush, but one definite problem for Kerry is that while those who dislike Bush mostly object to his policies, those who dislike Kerry mostly object to his character. It recalls one of the apocryphal Churchill/Lady Astor dialogues, in which she supposedly told Churchill that he was drunk. Churchill's reply: "You, Lady Astor, are ugly. And I shall be sober in the morning."

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