HIDING BAD NUMBERS :

Poll Finds Concerns That Bush Is Overly Influenced by Business (RICHARD W. STEVENSON and JANET ELDER, July 18, 2002, NY Times)

Americans worry that President Bush and his administration are too heavily influenced by big business, fear that Mr. Bush is hiding something about his own corporate past and judge the economy to be in its worst shape since 1994, the latest New York Times/CBS News Poll shows.

The survey suggests that the unfolding revelations about corporate misconduct and inflated earnings hold considerable peril for the White House and Mr. Bush's party in this Congressional election year. Not surprisingly, Democrats sounded particularly troubled about the administration's handling of the corporate issue, but even Republicans shared many of the concerns.

By more than two to one, the poll's respondents said the administration was more interested in protecting the interests of large companies than those of ordinary Americans. That concern was expressed by more than a third of Republicans and an overwhelming majority of Democrats.

Two-thirds of all respondents, and slightly more than half of Republicans, said business interests had too much influence on the Republican Party. Slightly less than half of all those polled said business exerted too much influence over the Democrats. Many Americans also expressed concerns that Mr. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney had not been sufficiently forthcoming about their own past business dealings.

With the stock market falling, concern about the economy intensifying and the United States facing the continued threat of terrorist attacks, the poll found a surge since the start of the year in the percentage of people who think the country is on the wrong track. It also found that Americans' trust in government, which climbed after Sept. 11, has slid significantly.

Here's a little game for you. Go read this story from today's Times on President Bush's poll numbers. When you get to this point in the story, stop, and guess what his approval rating is. I'll give you a clue about how your guess should go--notice it's now five full paragraphs into the story and they haven't mentioned the number yet?
Posted by Orrin Judd at July 19, 2002 3:20 PM