I happen to agree with the First Lady about these low approval-rating polls. Do I think the President's numbers are low? Probably. Do I think they are as low as the liberal press is reporting? Probably not.

The liberal press is SEEKING and MAKING A CONCERTED EFFORT to get the numbers they get. Here's what they do. So....CNN runs negative stories all day long....with a slant to virtually EVERYTHING as to how it's all Bush's fault and he can do nothing right. Then at the end of that day.....they take a poll. Well, what answer do you think they are going to get? You got it. Negative numbers. The TONS of polling that is going on right now is unprecetened. And it's being done for a reason. I believe it's a self-fullfilling prophecy: continue to say George W. Bush is awful and say it over and over and over again.....and the average person polled will give us the answer we want when we poll.

I've never been polled in my entire life. I've never KNOWN anyone who's been polled. That ought to tell us something about who gets polled.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060514/...ush_laura_dc_1

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"This is a time for a national imperative not to fail in Iraq." Condoleeza Rice, January 11, 2007

You were sounding rational up till this point. I don't know anyone who's been polled either, at least not who's told me. How many people do you know anyway. 10,000 out of a couple hundred million with new people turning 18 every day... Do you know enough people to makew it statistically improbable? If so, how many do you actively discuss polling with?

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"Man lives in the sunlit world of that which he believes to be reality. But unseen by most is an underworld, a place that is just as real... but not as brightly lit... A DARK SIDE!"
-opening from Tales From the Darkside

True....but.....you'd think that in all the polling that is done at some time during the lifetime of someone who is 60 years old they would run into at least ONE person who has been polled before. Or even once, perhaps, been polled themselves.

Polls cannot be taken as the final word regarding anything. Because, remember.....partisan groups can make sure they get the polling answers they seek by choosing when to call. For instance, I've always heard that to call on a Saturday night means you'll catch more Democrats at home. Therefore, I think it's necessary before placing too much faith in a poll to know when the calls were made and especially what questions were asked and how they were asked.

I have a lot more faith in a poll done by Democrats that show a positive for Bush.....OR.....in a poll done by a Republican leaning group that shows a negative for Bush...than the other way around. Who is to say that each group is not doing multiple polls....and then ONLY using the one they favor?

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"This is a time for a national imperative not to fail in Iraq." Condoleeza Rice, January 11, 2007

Polls don't mean much regardless when it comes to politics because Americans tend to sway a lot with events. If anything, they're only good for finding trends. On that note the Bush opinion polls are showing a rather strong trend.
But I believe you're on to something with the self-fulfilling prophecy. I just don't think it's orchestrated.
For the record, when I answered some internet poll I put that I was "somewhat satisfied" with Bush's overall performance. I think his unpopularity is pushing me toward my underdog bias.

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"Man lives in the sunlit world of that which he believes to be reality. But unseen by most is an underworld, a place that is just as real... but not as brightly lit... A DARK SIDE!"
-opening from Tales From the Darkside

I can't really say much about you never being polled. Just the luck of the draw. I've never been struck by lightning. But I read a story about a guy who has been struck three times.

On the polls themselves, I agree with you. A truly valid sample or poll would avoid leading questions or trying to juice the results. But as this is politics, it's probably a safe bet that this happens in some cases.

Gallup has certain guidelines that they follow. In their case, I would say the number just are what they are. There is a chance of sampling error in any population study where only a small portion of the total population is sampled. And anyway, this is a snapshot in time of what someone is thinking. It's not like trying to figure out what portion of the population is over 6 feet tall or has red hair. Opinions might change every few hours.

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"Tweeter was a Boyscout before she went to Vietnam and found out the hard way... nobody gives a d@mn."

reading the WSJ poll then. It came out this week and has numbers just as bad as the other ones. Republican pollsters having been sounding alarms about their own polls.

Conservatives are drifting ever more deeply into a bizare conspiracy world, much as the left did as it lost touch with the public in the late seventies.

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Paranoia strikes deep
Into your life it will creep
It starts when you're always afraid
You step out of line, the man come and take you away

This should console the President, although I doubt he will be as lucky.

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Paranoia strikes deep
Into your life it will creep
It starts when you're always afraid
You step out of line, the man come and take you away

Didn't Truman's stature begin rising after the Nixon era? So all Georgie has to hope for is an even bigger flub-up to take office after he's gone. Well, if we get Hillary in '08, I guess he might get that.

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"Tweeter was a Boyscout before she went to Vietnam and found out the hard way... nobody gives a d@mn."

It began rising in the sixties as McCarthyism fell into disrepute and historians began to recognise how effective and honorable a President he had been.

__________________
Paranoia strikes deep
Into your life it will creep
It starts when you're always afraid
You step out of line, the man come and take you away

1. The first lady attends political events where she is surrounded by sycophants who think her husband is the greatest President ever, next to Reagan. So It's not surprising that the people she meets don't reflect the polls.

2. While you can get a poll to prove anything. The science behind polling is solid. Standard deviation and R Squared etc. So inspite of the small numbers, many polls, especially those based on interviews can be scientifically valid.