Texans: How popular is Bush in your part of Texas?

The latest Survey USA poll shows Baby Bush with a 44% approval rating in Texas.

Link: http://www.surveyusa.com/client/PollReport.aspx?g=065b9f4d-3c5d-46d7-b1e3-eff261080c8f

But this is, of course, a big state, and while he may be very unpopular here in Austin, I'm wondering how well his numbers are holding up outside of this oasis of liberalism.

How popular is the Baby Bush in your part of Texas?

It seems like there are very few people who are neutral about him, unless they are just completely tuned out to current events. Though more and more people do seem to dislike him nowadays, which is of course a great thing. And I'm hoping that any of the Katrina evacuees who stay here can turn the area back to the solidly Dem voting bloc it once was.

And I certainly hope that people here remember Perry going on the teevee and waiving off concern for the area after Rita. Perry was already disliked by most here, and I'm hoping that the way he mishandled the hurricane issues will really hurt him next year.

Travis County is a mixed bag, too. Of course in central, north, and south Austin, the majority of the politically aware seem to dislike Gee Dubya, but unfortunately he seems to still be popular in the more affluent areas (Think western Travis County) and among the more churchly. I've seen very few Xian fish stickers accompanied with another bumper sticker saying something snide about His Shrubly Nibs.

Most building contractor's pickups almost always seem to have Bush or Bush Cheney bumper stickers.

Seems to keep me sane.

I live near Springdale and Rogge and my neighborhood is quiet and my neighbors are very friendly. Does that fact that it's not lily-white bother you?

She didn't say anything about not traveling east. She obviously doesn't want to head out west to Leander or up north to Round rock, where the majority of Travis County assholes live.

Project much? :eyes:
fsc

I've encountered a few racists in our lovely Travis County and its had me a little pissed off. I don't go up to Round Rock or out to Leander either, the traffic sucks.

I feel like liberals and Democrats here are still a little nervous about being too vocal about being anti-Bush, but I think it's also true that the Repugs are much less cocky and confident about their "strong leader." The strongly partisan 'pugs are always a lost cause, but I think he's lost a fair chunk of the voters he picked up for being a "wartime President" or a "compassionate conservative" (well, I'm pretty sure he lost those long ago).

Overall, the attitudes here seem to be a bit more anti-Bush than the rest of Texas, though I do think it's more of a holdover from this being a once-Democratic area than that we're particularly more liberal (the gay marriage ban vote down here is proof that we're no Austin).

I feel things are getting better, though. I like to think that this period will be the peak of the Repugs in TX. Demographic trends and the absence of Shrub on the ticket (why he ever became so loved here is a more difficult question I'd rather not even think about it) ought to work against the 'pugs in future elections, especially if the Dems can effectively capitalize on this.

I work at NASA and I think the 44% is all located in this area. These guys are pretty stupid and will defend him till the end.

They have every excuse in the book, resorting to blaming it on Clinton.

I think it is funny when we ask "Name three things that are going good in the US" and they cant.

Blank stares.

...they are still supporting Bush. When you question them about problem areas like the economy, trade defecit, etc it is Congress taht is at fault. Iraq is going bad becuase the Iraqi people aren't trying hard enough. They are part of the 35% that is not going to abandon Bush. These are the people who can't defend a single policy of Bush's but voted for him because he is a "good christian man with strong morals like most of America"


AValdoux

in West Texas. My mom attends one of the Baptist churches and says she has to stay mum about her politics. She's an old dyed-in-the wool Blue.

He's still quite popular, judging by bumper stickers & window stickers.

I travel in a rather insulated circle of artists, gays, real Christians (not the fascists calling themselves Christians)--I don't know anyone who likes Bush. I don't see many "W" stickers in my neighborhood (Oak Cliff). In my end of town, I'd estimate his approval rating at 15%.

I work in Frisco. Way different up here.

Still "W" stickers all over but I have heard a few grumblings from the "only one sticker" members.

:hi:

but yes, these f***s would vote for him again :puke:

- the 2 guys I went running with a couple of months ago backpedaling from Bush as hard as they can

- the former Army Ranger (Bravo Company, Mogadishu -- yeah, that) who I spoke with at length Monday night. He gave me his opinions on how bad things really are for the military right now, why he stepped down when he did (2000), the debacle in Iraq, and his general pessimism re the U.S. gaining its stature in the world ever again. I mentioned the money for Iraq going to KBR et al. and he looked me square in the eye, "and that is what makes me the angriest of all." The only real emotion I saw the guy display in our conversation was right there, though we talked about a lot of things.

I didn't directly ask this guy, "so is Bush an idiot or what?" or even get into Republican/Democrat, but instead suggested that if two people like us could sit down at a table and agree about these things, and know that the majority of Americans sitting down at a table would agree with us, and that's NOT what our leaders our doing, then it's our DEMOCRACY that's broken and we can fix it. Corporatocracy, media conglomerates, and the like. And you know what? He agreed. (Then there was a minor car accident behind me and he had to rush in and save the day. No I'm not kidding. It was almost comical.) Perhaps we'll continue that conversation another time... we might find the Democrat in this one yet.

I think there are a lot of people like this: asking questions, holding opinions that diverge from the administration, sometimes sharply. That's a good start.

They say, "I'm an Eisenhower Republican" and are dismayed at how the party has turned to religious fanaticism and "Bush idolatry." The older folks I've talked to from the "Eisenhower Republican" brigade all voted for Kerry in the last election. One woman told me she gave up on the Republican party when McCain lost the nomination in 2000, and also over the rise of people like Tom DeLay and Joe Barton. These people are even more pissed off than we are!

I think most of these folks think he's doing a bad job but I gurarantee if he ran again today they'd still vote for him!

I'm in Houston and in a very Republican area. I'm talking to Republicans every day. The women are furious and most of them have been voting Dem in the presidential races since 1992. The men are just starting to come around.

The women say they were the ones who did all the envelope addressing, block walking, bake sales, etc. since Texas was totally Dem. They feel they built the GOP here. Then when the Rep National Convention was in Houston in 1988, they were told to back off, don't make waves, cause the religious right were too important to the white men in the party. Of course, like DeLay's people, they call them wackos, but they use them. The way they used the women.

I often ask why they don't register Dem and they say to a woman....they built the party, when it was almost nothing and broke and now it's been stolen from them. They are going to stay and reclaim it. Most are not working for any but a very few, very local candidates, whom they know and trust. Other than that, they seem to be focused on AU (Americans United for the Separation of Church and State).

I think if you re-held the 2004 election, there wouldn't be any changes either here in the SA area, or in the state at large. It was about 60-40, and I think it would be 60-40 again.

The big difference is that people who voted for Bush, and who would vote for him again, keep their mouths shut these days. Fewer "We support the president and the troops" signs, fewer people spouting off "thank God (TM) for President Bush" in private conversation, and it's been about 3 months since I heard anyone defend the Iraq war separate from denouncing withdrawal.

I'm in Ellis County about 30 miles south of Dallas. I work in Irving. Both places are still pro-*. I live among nice people but they are non-political thinkers. They just vote for whom looks best I guess.

...outside of that (here in Cowtown), I still see lot's of aging Bush/Cheney stickers but like a lot of others, I'm hearing less vocal support at the lunch counter and in the checkout line at the store. My wife and I discuss current issues "out loud" in public places whenever possible. Before, this would occasionally cause heated discussions with total strangers. Now it just raises eyebrows.

It's freaking Bubba-ville. But you know, we've been seeing fewer and fewer Wastikas, and more and more anti-war bumper stickers. It's been very encouraging!

fsc

I went to N. Dallas for a meeting, & saw plenty of "Wastikas" (what a great name for 'em) and that weird "LoveYa" one that I've never seen before.

I found my meeting place easy--by following somebody with a "peace and justice" bumper sticker!

Although Beaumont/Port Arthur is supposedly "blue," I still notice my share of Bushistas down here.

--quote from a man at church this morning. This man used to be high-up in the Texas Republican Party until the dirty tricks against McCain started up. He quit the party when Bush got the nomination, and voted for Gore in 2000 & Kerry in 2004. He was against the idea of "pre-emptive war" from the very beginning, and absolutely hates Paul Wolfowitz. Nevertheless, this man's been saying he's really a Republican--until this morning, that is. Now that Bush has been spying on us, this man has totally given up on the GOP. "They're 'way, 'way out there," he said this morning, shaking his head. "They've gone too far. I'm an all-the-way Democrat now." I asked didn't he want to get back in and try to change the party from the inside, and he says no, that it's not worth the effort. He's written off the whole party.

I think "Baby Doc" Shrub is not popular in Denton where I live. People here say that the only TX city more progressive than Denton is Austin. Not to mention the cars with anti-war/Democrat stickers far outnumber the pro-war/pro-Shrub-stickered cars.

they named a toll way after him.

It figures they would make it a pay to play on the President Bush Toll-way.

Seriously they call it that, President Bush Toll-way!:puke:

Ya hafta ask? Hee, hee... going to a total bushbot Christmas dinner. Hope I don't get into any trouble. :evilgrin: