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January 16, 2005
About That Poll

Time Magazine publishes a new opinion poll today that shows President Bush picking up more support in overall job approval ahead of the inaugural:

President Bush’s approval rating has risen to 53%, according to the latest TIME poll conducted January 12 and 13. His approval rating is up 4 points from his Dec. 13-14 approval rating of 49%. The President’s approval numbers have improved across a variety of issues, including his handling of the economy (51% approve, up from 40% approve in September), his handling of the situation in Iraq (45% approve, up from 41% approval in September), and his handling of the war on terrorism (56% approve, up from 49% in September).

I think some of these gains may result from the toned-down partisan environment that naturally occurs between the election and the opening of the new session of Congress. The major issue on Bush's plate continues to be the Iraq situation, and the closer that elections come and Bush remains steadfast, the more support he will garner. Social Security may be a big question mark, but if the Iraqi elections succeed in any fashion as the Afghanistan elections did, he can expect that number to escalate significantly.

However, take a look at the sample for this poll:

This TIME Poll was conducted by telephone January 12-13, 2005 among a random sample of 1,002 adults, age 18 and older throughout America.

Usually, a sample of adults overall without any qualifiers such as "likely voters" or "registered voters" results in a lower rating for conservatives. Since no election is pending for George Bush (or any national office), the lack of such distinctions does not necessarily indicate a bias in the polling. However, I find it significant that Bush does so well in the general population. It's rather unexpected, and probably means that among those who voted in November, his job approval is actually higher.

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Posted by Ed Morrissey at January 16, 2005 1:06 PM

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» President Bush's Approval Rating Improving from RightPundit
According to the most recent Time Magazine poll, President Bush's approval rating is up to 53%, up four percentage points from the December 2004 poll. (Hat tip: Blogs for Bush; Captain's Quarters) The approval crosses many issues: The Presidentâ€... [Read More]

Tracked on January 17, 2005 10:51 AM



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