WASHINGTON - Evangelicals, Republican women, Southerners and other critical groups in President Bush's political coalition are worried about the direction the nation is headed and disappointed with his performance, an AP-Ipsos poll found.
That unease could be a troubling sign for a White House already struggling to keep the Republican Party base from slipping over Supreme Court nominee Harriet Miers, Gulf Coast spending projects, immigration and other issues.
"Politically, this is very serious for the president," said James Thurber, a political scientist at American University. "If the base of his party has lost faith, that could spell trouble for his policy agenda and for the party generally."
Sentiment about the nation's direction has sunk to new depths at a time people are anxious about Iraq, the economy, gas prices and the management of billions of dollars being spent for recovery from the nation's worst natural disaster.
Only 28 percent say the country is headed in the right direction while two-thirds, 66 percent, say it is on the wrong track, the poll found.
"There is a growing, deep-seated discontentment and pessimism about the direction of the country," said Republican strategist Tony Fabrizio, who believes the reasons for their pessimism differ for those in one political party or another.
You've got to wonder--is there anyone left who actually supports Bush? Who are those 28 percent of Americans--those hard core believers? Bush has never had any support of the liberals or Democrats--not after the Supreme Court gave Bush the presidency in 2000. The centrist / swing voters continued supporting him out of fears of terrorism and Republican charges that the Democrats would lose the war in Iraq. Well, the war in Iraq is pretty much lost, we're still not safe from terrorism, and the war is producing an economic shock of high gas prices (coupled with the hurricane disasters). So the centrist / swing voters have lost support. Bush did keep support of the evangelicals with his pick of John Roberts as chief justice, but when he chose Harriet Miers to the court, the evangelists are complaining louder than the Democrats. So now he's losing support of his evangelical base. Throw in a few scandals--Delay, Abramoff, Valerie Plamegate--and what's a poor president suppose to do? Continuing on with the story:
Among those most likely to have lost confidence about the nation's direction over the past year are white evangelicals, down 30 percentage points since November, Republican women, down 28 points, Southerners, down 26 points, and suburban men, down 20 points.
Bush's supporters are uneasy about issues such as federal deficits, immigration and his latest nomination for the Supreme Court. Social conservatives are concerned about his choice of Miers, a relatively unknown lawyer who has most recently served as White House counsel.
"Bush is trying to get more support generally from the American public by seeming more moderate and showing he's a strong leader at the same time he has a rebellion within his own party," Thurber said. "The far right is starting to be very open about their claim that he's not a real conservative."
The president's job approval is mired at the lowest level of his presidency — 39 percent. While four of five Republicans say they approve of Bush's job performance — enthusiasm in that support has dipped over the last year.
And here's something else to chew over. What do you think is going to happen to the president's poll numbers over the weekend if Fitzgerald starts handing indictments against Karl Rove and Scooter Libby in the Valerie Plame scandal?
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