"Concerned and Cranky"

We asked CBS News Director of Surveys, Kathleen Frankovic, to take a look at the latest CBS News/New York Times poll, hold it up to the light, and tell us what it all means. She did. Sounds like this could be the autumn of our discontent. – Ed.

60878It's after Labor Day and all the commemorations of the terrorist attacks of 9/11, so it's a good time to assess the state of the country - people are back from vacation, and starting to look ahead to the next major scheduled event -- the November elections. And our recent CBS News/NY Times poll found a public that some people might describe as concerned and cranky.

Some of the findings from the national poll of 1131 adults, interviewed by telephone September 15-19, have already been highlighted in news stories. They demonstrate American concern. Three in four Americans see Islamic fundamentalism as a real and growing threat to the U.S., and more than half of us think Al Qaeda's goal is to destroy the U.S., but we divide on how best to keep America safe. The President has not yet convinced a majority of the public that we must stay in Iraq to keep the U.S. safe, despite his recent set of speeches trying to convince the country of exactly that.

Now comes the cranky part. While Americans continue to give the President low approval ratings, they really are negative about Congress, giving it only a 25% approval rating.

What more can we say about the country's mood? The poll has some other, very negative findings. 60% say things in the U.S. are going worse than they were five years ago- the public is undoubtedly affected by the general dissatisfaction with how things are going for coalition forces in Iraq. Looking ahead, there's a fairly even split between optimists and pessimists (although the pessimists are ahead 37%-31%). Pessimism and cynicism about government are common, but only rarely do pessimists outnumber optimists when it comes to the overall national future. . The last time that happened was shortly after 9/11 itself.

That could create real problems for incumbents. Disapproving of Congress is as American as apple pie, but disapproving of one's own Representative in Congress is not. And that's still true. 53% of Americans approve of how their own Representative is handling his or her job, but that is the lowest number we've seen in 14 years.

There is more bad news that could come out of the voting booth for incumbents. Only 42% of registered voters feel their own Cogressman or Congresswoman deserves re-election. 47% say he or she does not. And that's the lowest "re-elect" number since 1994, when the Republicans swept Democrats out of control.

Kathleen Frankovic
CBS News Director of Surveys