Poll watching

MANIFESTO

The Los Angeles Times has just released some poll results that don't make things look good for the Bushies—or the country. Viz.,

[Fifty-three percent of] Americans believe Atty. Gen. Alberto R. Gonzales should resign because of the controversy over his office's firing of federal prosecutors, and a big majority want White House aides to testify under oath about the issue, the Los Angeles Times/Bloomberg Poll has found.

But wait, there's more.

Americans are also split along partisan lines over pending congressional legislation that would provide new funding for the war in Iraq, but require a timetable for the withdrawal of U.S. combat troops from the country.

Asked whether Bush should accept or veto a bill that included a timetable, 48% said he should sign such a measure while 43% said he should reject it. A significant majority of Democrats — 74% — backed signing the bill; an even bigger majority of Republicans, 80%, supported a veto.

This shows that you really can fool some of the people all of the time.

In the midst of this, however, even more nervousness can be found. Specifically,

The poll found that Americans have grown more pessimistic since the beginning of the year.

About two-thirds, 66%, said they believed the country is "seriously off on the wrong track," up from 61% in a Times/Bloomberg Poll in January.

Notwithstanding the hideous syntax of the statement, it's clear that the US has a serious problem if two out of three of its citizens think the country is in trouble. Yet, they're holding onto that last hope, because according to the same poll,

Americans are worried about the economy and believe that a recession is looming, but their faith in real estate remains fierce [even though stories like this one are becoming all too common] ...

Nearly a third of those polled predicted home values in their neighborhood would increase in the next six months. Only 16% anticipated a decrease. The rest said values would hold steady ... Sixty percent of the poll respondents said a recession was somewhat or very likely within the next year.

Needless to say, poll numbers such as these are usually about as prescient as the National Enquirer's predictions issue, but, at the least, these numbers point to a serious malaise in the American citizenry.