A new CNN poll shows just how far away from sanity the Republican Party has drifted. According the poll, 80% of Republicans think George W. Bush’s presidency was a success.
The new CNN/ORC International poll asked people if they would generally consider the presidency of George W. Bush a success or a failure? Overall 55% of those surveyed consider Bush’s presidency a failure, while 42% consider it a success. 53% of men, 57% of women, and 77% of non-white people consider Bush a failure. However, 52% of white men think Bush’s presidency was a success. People across all age groups, with the exception of those over 65 years old, consider Bush a failure. A majority of respondents across all income and education levels, and in every part of the country also considered Bush a failure.
Eighty six percent of Democrats and 53% of Independents considered Bush a failure. The results of the poll suggest that George W. Bush is still hurting the GOP with moderates as 66% of them considered Bush’s presidency a failure, but if you really want to understand how far off of the the turnip truck of reality Republicans have fallen consider that 80% of Republicans polled thought that George W. Bush’s presidency was a success.
Republicans have completely brainwashed themselves about the Bush years.
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It would be interesting to see why exactly they consider Bush a success. Was it the fact that he was president during the worst attack on domestic soil since Pearl Harbor? Was it that his administration lied the country into a completely unrelated to 9/11 war? How about the fact that his administration went on a spending binge that wiped out the budget surplus that Bill Clinton left behind? Could they approve of the fact that President Bush launched the biggest expansion of government in decades, and never bothered to pay for it. Or is that his administration eroded civil liberties, and ignored the constitution with regularity? Could it be his inept response to Katrina, or maybe it is the fact that his policies collapsed the economy, and led to the greatest economic downturn since the Great Depression?
You don’t have to be a Democrat to understand that the Bush years were a total disaster for the country. In fact, these polling numbers suggest that the impact of the Bush disaster is still pushing people away from the Republican Party. It isn’t a coincidence that the only groups who think Bush was a successful president are also the same people who supported John McCain in 2008 and Mitt Romney in 2012 (white men, people over age 65, Republicans, conservatives, and gun owners).
The people who think Bush was a successful president just so happen to also be the only people left in the Republican Party. These people are also quite possibly insane. The good news for Democrats is that these loonies believe that emulating George W. Bush is their path back to success.
Until the Republican Party stops living in denial about the Bush years, they have little chance of winning back the White House. The GOP’s problem is that the members of their party may think that the Bush presidency was a success, but everyone else in the country remembers a disastrous failure.
Republicans are out of step, out of reach, and quite frankly, out of their minds.
Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association
