Mr. 28 Percent

This latestCBS News poll really says it all:

(CBS) President Bush will deliver his State of the Union address Tuesday night to a nation that's strongly opposed to his plan for increasing troops in Iraq and deeply unhappy with his performance as president, according to a CBS News poll.

Mr. Bush’s overall approval rating has fallen to just 28 percent, a new low, while more than twice as many (64 percent) disapprove of the way he's handling his job.

There is really not much more I can comment on that number.

Now there is an interesting detail of this CBS News poll that I should comment on here:

Two-thirds of Americans remain opposed to the president's plan for sending more than 20,000 additional U.S. troops to Iraq — roughly the same number as after Mr. Bush announced the plan. And 72 percent believe he should seek congressional approval for the troop increase.

However, the poll finds more Americans might back the president's plan if they were convinced it would assure U.S. success in Iraq.

According to the CBS News poll, 66 percent of Americans oppose sending 20,000 more U.S. troops in Iraq, while 29 percent favor such an increase. However, if such an increase of 20,000 U.S. troops would "increased U.S.’ chances for success," then the numbers are reversed where 53 percent of Americans would favor such a troop increase, while 38 percent of Americans would oppose it. However, the CBS News poll reports:

Americans aren’t convinced the U.S. needs a troop increase to achieve its goals in Iraq. Just 26% think that’s needed. About the same number, 24%, think it can be done without sending any more troops. But 41% think the U.S. can’t achieve its goals regardless of troop levels.

Now these are some interesting numbers. First is the reversal number, showing how Americans are willing to support Bush's troop surge if it would increase the U.S.' chances for success. I'm sure that the Bush White House pollsters would have seen this number. The Bush SOTU speech will be all about changing the statistic so that Americans will support the troop surge if the U.S. could succeed. And the key audience for this SOTU speech will be the 24 percent of Americans who believe that the U.S. can succeed in Iraq without sending more troops. President Bush has got to convince those Americans that the troop surge is necessary. And we've seen one more example of the administration's PR-spin to scare the American people into accepting this surge. The ABC News exclusive story on al Qaeda's plans to attack the U.S. just a day before the Bush SOTU speech is another administration scare tactic--remember, the Bush administration knew about the al Qaeda attack plans six months ago. And now that the ABC News story is published, President Bush will certainly use it in his SOTU speech.

That will be the Bush PR-strategy for tomorrow.

Here is the PDF results of the CBS News poll.