New Poll

The NBC/WSJ poll is out and it shows continued deterioration in Bush's approval rating. While there were no big changes a few things are significant.

1. No "bounce" from the Iraq pep rally


2. No "bounce" from the London Bombings


3. Iraq replaces jobs as most important American priority


4. And most important:

   ...only 41 percent give Bush good marks for being "honest and straightforward" -- his lowest ranking on this question since he became president. That's a drop of nine percentage points since January, when a majority (50 percent to 36 percent) indicated that he was honest and straightforward.

Until recently Bush has been perceived as honest and straight forward by a majority. This is why the spin has been effective. If the spin doesn't work it will bdifficultlt to turn Richard Clark, who was right, into the villan and Rove into a hero as the spin machine is attempting to do. It leaves the Bush administration weakened in the upcoming supreme court battle(s). We have already seen that Americans are not buying the Iraq happy talk. The fight them there so we don't have to fight them here meme didn't apply to London so there is no reason to believe it applies to the US. If the spin doesn't work it will bdifficultlt for Bush to stop the decline in his poll numbers.