President Bush’s performance ratings are at an all-time low in Wisconsin, according to the most recent Badger Poll released Friday.
The survey results, sponsored by The Capital Times and the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, indicate that Bush’s support dropped from a record high of 69 percent in June 2002 to last month’s new low of 46 percent. State voters, however, remain almost evenly divided on whether or not the president should be re-elected.
Republican National Committee Chairman Ed Gillepsie disregarded similar declining poll results on the national scene during a press conference last week.
“In the third year of a first term, an incumbent president is always down in the polls,” Gillepsie said. “We anticipated it.”
He noted that Ronald Reagan in 1983 and Bill Clinton in 1995 saw similar trends. He also said both easily won re-election the following year. Gillepsie said he remains confident in how things are going.
“I would rather have a slump in the third year than the fourth year,” he said.
The Badger Poll also showed Wisconsin residents’ reaction to each Democratic candidate. They generally have low favorable opinions, but most said they do not know enough about the candidates. U.S. Sen. Joe Lieberman, D-Connecticut, who ran unsuccessfully for vice president in 2000, had the highest Wisconsin approval of all the Democratic presidential hopefuls with 31 percent. More people also said they knew enough information about him to form an opinion.
The second favorable Democratic candidate in the state is U.S. Rep. Dick Gephardt, with 21 percent approval. He was followed by U.S. Sen. John Kerry, 15 percent; Vermont Gov. Howard Dean, 12 percent; former U.S. Sen. Carol Mosely Braun, 11 percent; former North Atlantic Treaty Organization Supreme Commander Wesley Clark, eight percent; Rev. Al Sharpton, seven percent; U.S. Sen. John Edwards, seven percent; and U.S. Rep. Dennis Kucinich, four percent.
Amy Shultz, co-coordinator of the University of Wisconsin’s Students for Clark, said she does not trust polls and relies on campaigning. Democrats have generally responded to Bush’s higher ratings in the polls by suggesting the people surveyed are not informed about the issues.
“I don’t think as many people would have supported him on the issues,” Dan Casanova, chair of UW’s Students for Kucinich said in response to the support Bush has in the polls.
The Democratic Party of Wisconsin released a statement on the state’s political criticisms of Bush, mainly for his handling of the war and his failure to create new jobs in light of positive economic numbers.
“Wisconsin’s starting to look like an uphill battle for the President in 2004,” DPW Chair Linda Honold. “He’s losing support for his war from leaders of his own party, and his GOP operatives in Wisconsin are forced to spin approval numbers in the 30s and 40s. That’s not exactly a recipe for success.”
Another poll released Sunday and conducted by ABC and The Washington Post revealed that Democrats are struggling to find a strong enough issue and candidate to challenge Bush, who seems vulnerable on major issues.
About 57 percent of Democrats said their party leadership is moving in the right direction while 75 percent of Republicans feel that way.
According to the survey, Bush’s job approval nationally is 56 percent, with his strongest areas being leadership and the fight against terror.
“[Bush] possesses great leadership skills and is not really wavering,” UW College Republicans Chair Frank Harris said.
