The Dems' Poll Numbers Take a Nose Dive

That's what happens when you're elected to do a job and waste your time playing political games.

WASHINGTON (AP) — In the eyes of the public, Congress is doing even worse than the president.

Public satisfaction with the job lawmakers are doing has fallen 11 points since May, to 24 percent, according to an Associated Press-Ipsos poll. That’s lower than for President Bush, who hasn’t fared well lately, either. [33%]
[…]
The 24 percent approval rating for Congress matched its previous low, which came in June 2006, five months before Democrats won control of the House and Senate due to public discontent with the job Republicans were doing.

Just two months ago, 35 percent of the public approved of Congress’ work.
[…]
While the public’s approval of Congress has dropped 11 points since May, the percentage of Democrats who are turning up their noses at Congress - like Lambirth - nearly doubled. Among Republicans, though, not so much.

Approval among Democrats fell 21 points, from 48 percent in May to 27 percent.

It remained low among Republicans, at 20 percent, and has not changed significantly in the past two months.

If they keep this up, pretty soon their numbers will match Cheney's and you just don't get much lower than that.

Impeach the bastards and stop funding the Iraq war!
 

Poll: Canadian Creationists

Yikes:

The Canadian Press-Decima Research survey suggests that 60 per cent of Canadians believe God had either a direct or indirect role in creating mankind, shattering the myth that Canadians had long ago put their faith strictly behind the scientific explanation for creation.

The poll suggests Canadians divide in essentially three groups on the issue of creation: 34 per cent of those polled said humans developed over millions of years under a process guided by God; 26 per cent said God created humans alone within the last 10,000 years or so; and 29 per cent said they believe evolution occurred with no help from God.

Now, you'd think those making up that 26% are all related to Stockwell Day, right?

But, wait a minute:

Conservatives were more likely than Liberals to say that God had no part in the process, and Alberta, regarded as the birthplace of social conservatism, had one of the lowest levels of beliefs for strict creationism at 22 per cent.

Ummm, what? The Tyrell Museum is obviously brainwashing all of those people in the Bible belt and I'd say that's pretty bad news for the guy who just opened this place.

But in this controversial area, the devil is in the breakdown of the numbers.

For instance, while Liberal party voters were more likely than Conservatives to credit God with some contribution to creation, Conservative voters were less likely to write God out altogether. Only 22 per cent of Tory respondents said God had no role, as opposed to 31 per cent of Liberals.

Liberal respondents were far more likely to be what could be termed “soft evolutionists” or “soft creationists,” with 41 per cent saying God guided the process of human development, as opposed to 34 per cent of Conservatives seeing creation in those terms.

Softies - all of you Liberals are just softies.

Well, that's quite the jumble of numbers. Seems Liberals and Tories aren't as far apart on this issue as I thought. Mind you, (run, duck and cover) "Liberals" tend to be centrists - not exactly that far left of Tories when it comes down to it and not that divided as far as religious beliefs go.

And leave it to Canada's fringe elements (my relatives in Quebec and all of those stoned people in BC) to have the most skepticism of all:

Regionally, Quebec respondents were by far the most likely to say God’s role in creation was a delusion, with 40 per cent saying the evolutionary process had no interference from an intelligent designer.

British Columbia respondents were the next sub-group who could be termed strict evolutionists, with 31 per cent saying God was not involved. Least likely to hold this view were respondents in the Prairie provinces — 21 per cent.

Rural respondents also had a plurality who believed in strict creationism at 34 per cent, whereas only 22 per cent of urban dwellers said they believed God alone created humans.

Proof that cities are evil, no doubt.

And I know you're wondering the same thing I was: what are the numbers for the yanks?

Anderson said the findings suggest Canadians lack consensus on creation, but also don’t view the issue as polarizing.

“It’s more as though for many, these feelings are unresolved,” he said. “We believe in a higher being, we know what we don’t know, are comfortable not knowing, and choose not to press our views upon one another.”

Ya, shit, I don't know anything and I don't have a problem with that...until I do.

Anyway...

That is not the case in the United States, where similar polls have suggested Americans are more polarized on the subject. In a recent U.S. poll, 45 per cent said God created humans, and 40 per cent said evolution was God guided. Only 15 per cent said God played no part in creation.

Well, down there around half of the people still think Saddam had something to do with 9/11 and Bush's approval ratings (which should be in the negative digits) hover around 26-28%. Shows how much they know...or don't know that they don't know...or something.

Me? Evolution all the way. God and batteries not included.
 

Poll: Dems Numbers are Dropping

And rightly so:

The Democrats in Congress have lost much of the leadership edge they carried out of the 2006 midterm election, with the lack of progress in Iraq being the leading cause. Their only solace: President Bush and the Republicans aren't doing any better.

Six weeks ago the Democrats held a 24-point lead over Bush as the stronger leadership force in Washington; today that's collapsed to a dead heat. The Democrats' overall job approval rating likewise has dropped, from a 54 percent majority to 44 percent now -- with the decline occurring almost exclusively among strong opponents of the Iraq War.

You don't reward bad behaviour. It's as simple as that. The Democrats have seriously damaged their credibility. The American people want their troops to come home - not tomorrow, but at least eventually. The Dems blew it with their last vote and now they're paying for it.

But don't expect people to be taking to the streets in droves though. This is the era of the Grumpiness Revolution (tm):

Another figure underscores the public's broad grumpiness: Seventy-three percent now say the country's off on the wrong track, the most in just over a decade.

Grumpy people typically don't have much energy to do much more than throw things at their teevees or just change the channel when they're annoyed by politicians.

73%. That's huge. But it still isn't enough, apparently, for mass demonstrations or any kind of effective political revolution. That's obvious judging the current crop of top Democratic presidential candidates.

Just what does it take?
 

Poll: Canada Comes Out on Top in Image Poll

And, let's make sure we keep it that way.

Via the AP:

LONDON (AP) -- Israel, Iran and the United States were the countries with the most negative image in a globe-spanning survey of attitudes toward 12 major nations. Canada and Japan came out best in the poll, released Tuesday.

The survey for the British Broadcasting Corp.'s World Service asked more than 28,000 people to rate 12 countries - Britain, Canada, China, France, India, Iran, Israel, Japan, North Korea, Russia, the United States and Venezuela - as having a positive or negative influence on the world.

Israel was viewed negatively by 56 percent of respondents and positively by 17 percent; for Iran, the figures were 54 percent and 18 percent. The United States had the third-highest negative ranking, with 51 percent citing it as a bad influence and 30 percent as a good one. Next was North Korea, which was viewed negatively by 48 percent and positively by 19 percent.

Canada had the most positive rating in the survey, with 54 percent viewing it positively and 14 percent negatively. It was followed by Japan and France.
[...]
Pollsters questioned about 1,000 people in 27 different countries, including the U.S., Britain, France, Germany, Russia, China, India, Brazil, Mexico and Australia; as well as four predominantly Muslim countries: Egypt, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates and Indonesia; and two countries with large Muslim populations: Lebanon and Nigeria.

As the pollster's researcher pointed out, countries that prop themselves up based on their military might had the most negative images. Let that be a lesson.