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An Unhappy Union
The Times poll finds Bush's job approval at 42 percent, up 1 point from early December, "a lackluster rating that could hamper his ability to rally public opinion behind his agenda and push legislation through a divided Congress. Beyond that, nearly two-thirds of the country thinks the nation is on the wrong track, a level that has historically proved to be a matter of concern for a party in power."
Here are a graphic and the complete poll results .
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You can track some of the wording used in various eavesdropping-related questions in the past several weeks on PollingReport.com .
The Times acknowledges the importance of how its questions are framed. In short, if you pit civil liberties against fighting terrorism in the public's mind, terrorism generally wins.
But that's not actually the central drama here.
Yet, as far as I know, none of these polls ask whether the public thinks Bush was wrong to embark on this program purely on his own executive authority, rather than asking Congress or the courts for their approval.
Critics of the program are not questioning the underlying intent -- to eavesdrop on the communication of suspected terrorists -- they're challenging Bush's unilateral authority to do so, without judicial or congressional approval. There's also a concern that, because of the lack of checks and balances, the program may be straying more widely than has been publicly acknowledged.
If you pit the Constitution against fighting terrorism, who wins?
Ethics
Richard Morin writes for washingtonpost.com this morning: "A strong bipartisan majority of the public believes President Bush should release records of meetings between disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff and White House staffers despite administration claims that media requests for details about those contacts amount to a 'fishing expedition,' according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll.
"The survey found that three in four--76 percent--of all Americans said Bush should disclose contacts between aides and Abramoff while 18 percent disagreed. Two in three Republicans joined with eight in 10 Democrats and political independents in favoring disclosure, according to the poll. . . .
"The new poll found that 56 percent of the public disapproved of the way that Bush is handling ethics in government, up seven percentage points in the past five weeks."
Executive Power
Jim VandeHei writes in The Washington Post: "President Bush set limits yesterday on White House cooperation in three political disputes, saying he is determined to assert presidential prerogatives on such matters as domestic eavesdropping and congressional inquiries into Hurricane Katrina.
