Poll: Two Wars, Two Reactions For Bush

President Bush has focused a series of speeches this week on two things: the "War on Terror" and the war in Iraq. The White House has long contended that the post-9/11 offensive against al Qaeda and the 2003 invasion of Iraq are two sides of the same issue, but a new CBS News/New York Times poll finds that most Americans have very different opinions about each.

When asked to put in their own words what they like best about the Bush presidency, the war on terrorism garners the most responses. One in ten Americans – 11 percent of those polled – cites the president's handling of the war on terrorism as what they like best. Five percent say it is that the president is the "decider" – a term Mr. Bush has used to describe himself. The president's handling of the war in Iraq comes third, with 4 percent.

WHAT DO YOU LIKE BEST ABOUT THE BUSH PRESIDENCY?

Handling of war on terror

11%

Decisive

5%

Handling of war in Iraq

4%

Taxes

3%

Morality/religion

3%

What is most striking, however, is that more than half the country is unable to volunteer something they like best about the president or say they like nothing.

Nothing

19%

Don't know

34%

There was a clear winner when Americans were asked what about the Bush presidency they liked the least. The poll found overwhelmingly that the answer was the handling of the war in Iraq and its effects. Mr. Bush's handling of immigration, the handling of the economy, and the president's policies in general followed far behind.

WHAT DO YOU LIKE LEAST ABOUT THE BUSH PRESIDENCY?

Handling of the war in Iraq

38%

Handling of immigration

5%

Handling of the economy

5%

Policies in general

5%

Nothing

3%

Don't know

14%

These voluntary answers reflect both the president's low approval rating (36 percent in this poll) and what are clearly his strengths and weaknesses. Fifty-five percent of Americans now approve of the way the president is handling the campaign against terrorism, but only 30 percent approve of how he is handling Iraq.

Even for the president's partisans, the war in Iraq emerges as the number one dislike. It was mentioned by 23 percent of Republicans.

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Read the complete poll results (.pdf)

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For detailed information on how CBS News conducts public opinion surveys, click here.

This poll was conducted among a nationwide random sample of 1206 adults interviewed by telephone August 17-21, 2006. The error due to sampling could be plus or minus three percentage points for results based on the complete sample.

[elcoyote711]

@bubear -- We get it too,Okee-Doke? You hate CBS...and probably any network media that isn't Fox. Why don't you got to the Fox site if you want everyone to agree with you?

But this poll isn't about left-right politics at all.
It's about a large number of Americans of both political stripes realizing [some just lately] that the person and "entourage" that they put into office 5 years ago is putting the nation and it's security at risk.
Bush has put us at risk by blindly following neo-con ideology where he should have been using practical "real-politik". Put us at risk by hiring incompetent cronies [e.g. Micheal Brown] over trained civil service professionals. Put us at risk by cherry-picking "manufactured intelligence" over actual field ops reports to make a case for the Iraq war.
And when it all hits the fan, through a truly astounding string of incompetent policy decisions and executions, he sends out his hell-hound Rove to scare and whip up the nation's soccer moms to a frenzy of bloodlust for Saddam and his ilk. All the while letting North Korea build nuclear bombs and allowing China to launch what will be the world's largest blue-ocean navy in 10-15 years, to do what with no one knows [hint: it's not fishing for carp].
And to top it all off Bush has had 3 separate chances to nab bin Laden in 5 years, so why does OBL always sends out a tape when the GOP needs a boost in the polls?
And that's why Americans are down on the future and PO'd at the Bush Dynasty <EOM>

[boblight7]

I believe what needs to happen are the following 1) Domestic, a progressive Energy Policy which will free America of the need for Foreign oil and choke off petro dollars going to Terrorists supporting states.. No money , little or no terrorism.. A Pro-Active approach which will combine government funding with private sector ingenuity. How about a funding a joint partnership between Silicon Valley and Detroit. You may come up with a workable electric car, way before Hydrogen fuels can become practical.. Raise MPG standards in all US vehicles..Massive investment in Solar, Wind and other renewables...2) Divide Iraq into 3 countries: Sunni , Kurd, and Shiite. Keep a small level of troops in the Kurdish sector to fight terrorism. Have them sign a Treaty with Turkey , to gain Turkish support and keep Nato together. Demand Saudi, Kuwaiti financial support for the rebuilding of Iraq. Replace US troops with Arab Leauge and EU troops. Have US troops focus on Afganastan and capturing/defeating Binn Laden/Al-Quedea..

[newsjeff-2009]

I have criticized the GOP controlled house,senate,and congress and a few GOP governors much more in the past few weeks than I have criticized Bush. I still believe that voters need to realize that the President can only do what the house,senate,congress passes or allows him to do. President's vetos or decisions can be overridden by 2/3 majority vote against him. I believe that if Bush and the entire GOP would have focused more on Bin Laden and brought him and his followers to justice, and left issues like same-*** marriage,abortion, and religion alone, voters would be happier some issues are a person's personal right and priviledge not the government's business. Protecting and securing our borders from illegal immigrants and deporting any potential terrorists like the ones who attacked New York on 9-11-2001 is the government and white house's responsibility(it is not their job to make excuses why borders cannot be secured,or illegal terrorists stopped from entering the U.S.)

I think that no one item can jump out that says Bush Presidency. His invasion of Afganistan was a shining moment and would have made his Presidency, if he had continued and captured Bin Laden and the rest of Al Queda, instead he decided to finish the first Bush's war in the Gulf. Bad Mistake!

[caslonbold]

@bubear - that other story isn't about how American's feel about our troops; it's about how safe we feel now. The graphic suggests that the color-coded terror alert levels, 9/11, and our wars in the Middle East factor into our opinions about how safe we are. As far as I see, you were the only one to remark about our troops in either comment thread, essentially introducing a red herring into the discussion.

Btw, your logic is flawed in your comment on the other news story too. Just because 46% of Americans feel the same now doesn't mean they all felt safe five years ago. It only means their sense of security hasn't changed.

Within that sub-group of people who answered "same," if as few as 28% of them felt unsafe five years ago then it would be true that MOST Americans feel less secure now.

However, the polling question was framed precluded deducing the composition of the group who answered "same." So really we cannot determine from this poll whether *most* Americans feel safe or *most* Americans feel less safe. We can only note the trend, and the trend is toward less safe.

[caslonbold]

@bubear - you seem to have difficulty distinguishing between George Bush the man and America the nation. They are not the same thing, and it is quite peculiar that you think they are.

The majority of American's think Bush has performed poorly as President. If you don't believe CBS, look what other surveys (including Fox, Gallup, CNN, and the Wall Street Journal) are reporting:

http://www.pollingreport.com/BushJob.htm

Enjoy!

[notbuynit]

There's no drain in that picture. Its seems to be a symbolic representation of how America feels about Mr. President. Nothing wrong with that. It's true. Most of America thinks he stinks!

[clestes-2009]

This has nothing to do with hating Bush. These are results from the American people across all races, across all social classes.

The American people generally feel Bush has done a lousy job in Iraq.

I don't even like the job he has done in the so called "war on terror". I think he has made it worse not better. But most people don't agree with me on that.

People are being honest with what they feel. How does that become hatred?