Poll: Clarke Doubted; Bush Support Ebbs

Two-thirds of Americans say the testimony of Richard Clarke, the former terrorism adviser who has been critical of the Bush administration, hasn't affected their view of the president, says a poll released Saturday.

However, public views supporting President Bush (news - web sites)'s handling of terrorism have dipped from 65 percent to 57 percent in the last month, according to the Newsweek poll. That drop comes at a time the commission investigating the Sept. 11 terror attacks has been publicly questioning officials in the Bush and Clinton administrations about their handling of the terror threat.

The Bush campaign has placed his handling of the campaign against terrorism — his strongest issue — at the heart of his re-election bid. Clarke left the Bush administration in early 2003, and has criticized the president for his handling of terrorism in a new book, numerous interviews and testimony before the Sept. 11 commission.

Half those surveyed in the poll after Clarke's testimony Wednesday said they thought he was acting for political and personal reasons, while a quarter said they feel he's acting as a dedicated public servant. While 65 percent said Clarke's testimony has not affected their views of Bush, 17 percent said it made them view him less favorably and 10 percent said more favorably.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=544&ncid=703&e=6&u=/ap/20040328/ap_on_go_pr_wh/clarke_poll

A majority of Americans already dislike and distrust Bush. Clarke's testimony just confirms their opinions, it doesn't change it.

The die-hard extremist right-wing won't listen to anything against their Beloved Leader. Their opinions won't change.

It's the small number of people who haven't made up their minds who matter. The poll question doesn't capture the shift in their opinions.

The shift is happening. I see it. Lots of other people see it.

My opinion hasn't changed. It's just being proven true.

It hasn't affected my view it only supports what we already know.

What I think is happening is that Clarke is reinforcing what all of us believe happened. The right wanted to go after Iraq before the election and Bush was the puppet president they needed. As soon as they got into power they put their plan into gear and to hell with anything else. But along comes 9/11 and it got in their way. There response was to use 9/11 as a tool to push for the Iraq invasion claiming a connection between the two.

The American people can now connect the dots just as we had done months before this.

9/11 *was* the way. Part of the grand conspiracy theory Bush pushed on the world as an excuse to steal Iraq's oil was that Hussein was secretly behind 9/11, and that he would slip WMDs to Al Quaeda. That's why he needed 9/11 to happen.

The people that love Bush are religiously in love with conservatism.

The big line I hear lately is that they hate Bush but who else would they vote for?

Why can't the repukes ever get a third party candidate?

Remember, Buchanan?

He has managed to finally secure a spot in the flow of information which will enable other bits damaging to Bush and Co. to pile up.

There are other actors waiting to come foward.

Clarke is the Voice that fianlly got America's attention.

In a way it's probable better that this happen gradually.

than to beLieve this is an accurate refLection of americans. anyone who has seen cLarke, and seen him hoLd up to the reLentLess onsLaught wiLL see his sincerity.

the 911 victims and special troops in Afghanistan.

Anyone with half a brain can see the sincerity, and thoroughness of his testimony is for the welfare and security of this country.

They'll die before they admit they've been duped.

Moran: American with an IQ under 100 who believes he has the moral duty to force his system of government on any country with the resources to make it worthwhile.

because of Clarke? That's HUGE.

how ignorant the masses are.

GOP base. I see this as a desperation ploy by Big Biz to keep Bushy afloat until the Nov. elections. Remember, we need the stockholders to keep investing to make Big Biz happy. If they waver because of Clarke's testimony, it might cause the Stock Market to drop. Can't have that!

I posted this on another thread discussing the newsweek poll which this article references. According to the "fine print" on the poll at the Newsweek site (at http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4614361 ), it looks like only a quarter of the sample were "Democrats and Democratic leaners." I'm not sure this is the case, because they don't describe their methodology in detail, but look at the description at the bottom of the poll on the Newsweek site. It states that the whole sample was 1002. Then it states that some questions were asked ONLY of specific subsets like "registered voters" and "Democrats and Democratic leaners." Doesn't the description below indicate that only 838 registered voters, and only 265 Democrats and Democratic leaners were included in the total sample?

The NEWSWEEK poll was conducted by Princeton Survey Research Associates, which interviewed 1,002 adults by telephone on Mar. 25 - 26. The margin of error is plus or minus 3 percentage points. For those questions which surveyed registered voters, 838 people were interviewed, and the margin of error is plus or minus 4 percentage points. For those questions which surveyed Democrats and Democratic leaners, 265 people were interviewed and the margin of error is plus or minus 7 percentage points.

Am I misunderstanding this description of the poll?