President Bush Isn't Personally Liked Anymore

[Frodo]

Americans don't like President Bush personally much anymore, either

By Steven Thomma
Knight Ridder Newspapers

WASHINGTON - It's not just the way he's doing his job. Americans apparently don't like President Bush personally much anymore, either.

A drop in his personal popularity, as measured by several public polls, has shadowed the decline in Bush's job-approval ratings and weakened his political armor when he and his party need it most.

Losing that political protection - dubbed "Teflon" when Ronald Reagan had it - is costing Bush what the late political scientist Richard Neustadt called the "leeway" to survive hard times and maintain his grip on the nation's agenda. Without it, Bush is a more tempting target for political enemies. And members of his party in Congress are less inclined to stand with him.

"When he loses likeability, the president loses the benefit of the doubt," said Dennis Goldford, a political scientist at Drake University in Iowa. "That makes it much harder for him to steer."

[○∙◄☻¥tπ[╪AV┼cVê└]

I never personally liked him to begin with.

[MODU]

I still personally like him and would still have a burger with him at a bbq. 

[MasterJedi]

I still personally like him as I bet most of America still does (regardless of the poll). Like my Uncle, he hates Bush politically but he met him a long time ago when he was the baseball owner, says he was a great, and very nice man.

[nclib]

I never personally liked him to begin with.

Same here and it always surprised me how many Americans did/have personally liked him.

[Alcon]

I feel bad for him, because I think he is not competent enough to say "no" to his advisors.  But that is enough to make me dislike him personally.

Also, MasterJedi, what leads you to believe that this poll's sample is incorrect?

[Undisguised Sockpuppet]

I'm sure he's a decent person its just that he's an incompetent POTUS and his political views suck horribly.

[CARLHAYDEN]

It really angers me when someone tells me a stupid lie.

Its an insult to my intelligence, and tells me that the liar thinks I'm stupid enough to buy a dumb lie, or so unimportant that he can tell a dumb lie and eoesn't care if people belive it.

If Bush had owned up to his gross failure to safeguard the border and committed to taking real action to protect the border, I would understand.

What Bush has done however is to insult people supporting border security, and when when making minimal promises on the issue is clearly like a little boy making promises he doesn't intend to keep and making them only because he is being forced to do so.  Insincerity oozes from him.

[HardRCafé]

What's not to like?

[○∙◄☻¥tπ[╪AV┼cVê└]

I still personally like him as I bet most of America still does (regardless of the poll). Like my Uncle, he hates Bush politically but he met him a long time ago when he was the baseball owner, says he was a great, and very nice man.

Wrong, the latest Gallup has his unfavorables at 60%.

[minionofmidas]

"When he loses likeability, the president loses the benefit of the doubt," said Dennis Goldford, a political scientist at Drake University in Iowa. "That makes it much harder for him to steer."

I think he's got his backwards. He's losing likeability because people aren't giving his grossly ingratiating manner the benefit of the doubt anymore.