The New York Times/CBS News Poll
January 12-15, 2004

3. Do you approve or disapprove of the way George W. Bush is handling his job as President?

12/14-15/03
58 Approve
33 Disapprove

1/12-15/04
50 Approve
45 Disapprove

[Editorial note: Oops!]

4. Do you feel things in this country are generally going in the right direction or do you feel things have pretty seriously gotten off on the wrong track?

12/14-15/03
49 Right direction
43 Wrong track

1/12-15/04
42 Right direction
53 Wrong track

[Editorial note: Damn. But just wait till we get that moon thing going! Or wait...see item 81 below. ]

6. Do you approve or disapprove of the way George W. Bush is handling foreign policy?

12/14-15/03
52 Approve
38 Disapprove

1/12-15/04
47 Approve
45 Disapprove

7. How about the economy? Do you approve or disapprove of the way George W. Bush is handling the economy?

12/14-15/03
49 Approve
43 Disapprove

1/12-15/04
44 Approve
51 Disapprove

[Editorial note: That's gotta hurt.]

8. Do you approve or disapprove of the way George W. Bush is handling the situation with Iraq?

12/14-15/03
59 Approve
35 Disapprove

1/12-15/04
48 Approve
46 Disapprove

[Editorial note: Where Saddam go?]

13. Is your opinion of George W. Bush favorable, not favorable, undecided, or haven't you heard enough about George W. Bush yet to have an opinion?

12/14-15/03
48 Favorable
31 Unfavorable
17 "Undecided"

1/12-15/04
41 Favorable
38 Unfavorable
16 "Undecided"

[Editorial note: Those 1's and 8's got mixed up somehow.]

16. Which comes closer to your opinion about what the United States policy should be after the war with Iraq? The United States should not attack another country unless the U.S. is attacked first, OR the U.S. should be able to attack any country it thinks might attack the United States?

1/12-15/04
58 Sould not attack
32 Should be able to attack

19. If the 2004 Presidential election were being held today, do you think you would probably vote for George W. Bush or probably vote for the Democratic candidate?

12/21-22/03*
49 Bush
40 Democrat

1/12-15/04*
43 Bush
45 Democrat

[Editorial note: I am astonished that 45% of the respondants to this poll are self-admitted practitioners of hate-speech, apoplectic rage, fascism, anti-semitism, and terrorism.]

43. Do you have confidence in George W. Bush's ability to make the right decisions about the nation's economy, or are you uneasy about his approach?

1/12-15/04
39 Confident
57 Uneasy

45. Do you think George W. Bush has the same priorities for the country as you have, or not?

1/12-15/04
41 Same
54 Not

[Editorial note: Does death count as a priority?]

49. Do you think George W. Bush is more interested in protecting the interests of ordinary Americans or more interested in protecting the interests of large corporations?

1/12-15/04
30 Ordinary Americans
58 Large corporations

53. Do you think big business has too much influence, too little influence, or the right amount of influence on the Bush administration?

1/12-15/04
64 Too much
5 Too little
23 Right amount

59. Do you think the Bush Administration has made a lot of progress, some progress, not much progress, or no progress at all in improving public schools?

1/12-15/04
9 A lot
33 Some
18 Not much
34 No progress

65. Looking back on it now, do you think the Bush Administration was too quick to get the United States involved in a war in Iraq, too slow, or was the timing about right?

1/12-15/04
49 Too quick
13 Too slow
35 About right

71. In general, is your opinion of the Republican party favorable or not favorable?

1/12-15/04
48 Favorable
43 Not favorable

Compare with:

10/27-31/02
54 Favorable
35 Not favorable

72. In general, is your opinion of the Democratic party favorable or not favorable?

1/12-15/04
54 Favorable
36 Not favorable

Compare with:

10/27-31/02
55 Favorable
36 Not favorable

[Editorial note: This strikes me as weird. GOP favorability has dropped significantly since the 2002 elections, while the Dem ratings are still as high as they were then. And even though the parties had the same numbers on the eve of the 2002 election...well, you know what happened, I'm not going to rehash it. Frankly, I doubt there's a lesson here. Moving on...]

77. When it comes to possible weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, has the Bush Administration told the public most of what it knows or has it been hiding important elements of what it knows?

1/12-15/04
27 Told most
61 Hiding important elements

78. Before the war with Iraq, when talking about what they knew about the existence of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, do you think the members of the Bush Administration were telling everything they knew, most of what they knew, hiding important elements of what they knew, or mostly lying?

1/12-15/04
6 Telling everything
27 Telling most
39 Hiding important elements
21 Mostly lying

[Editorial note: Those are pretty incredible numbers. I guess it shows that people aren't stupid. They just don't necessarily know that they're not stupid.]

79. Are we spending too much, too little, or about the right amount on space exploration programs?

1/12-15/04
40 Too much
17 Too little
37 Right amount

81. Given the costs and risks involved in manned space exploration, do you think building a permanent space station on the moon is worth it, or not?

1/12-15/04
35 Worth it
58 Not worth it

85. Regardless of what you think about George Bush now, looking back to 2000, would you say George W. Bush legitimately won the 2000 presidential election, or not?

1/12-15/04
54 Legitimately won
42 Not

[Editorial note: What sort of country are we living in when 42% of those polled do not believe the president was legitimately elected, over three years after that election? What does it mean that this type of question is just accepted as...another question? Number 85 on the list of questions? What is this? Who are we? ]

Do you think of yourself as closer to the Republican party or to the Democratic party?

1/12-15/04
34 Republican
47 Democratic

[Editorial note: I--even I!--have been so warped by GOP spin that these numbers surprised me--I was under the assumption that everyone in the country hated Democrats...but lo, here they are. Where are you, 47? Hello out there! We could use some help!!]