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Bush support to an all-time low
www.socialistworld.net, 02/03/2006
website of the committee for a workers' international, CWI
Polls in the US, the day before yesterday, proved how pessimism about the Iraq war and dissaproval with Bush’s domestic policies have pushed approval ratings to an all-time low. Only 34% of the American public approves of the way Bush is handling is job and only 29% have a favourable view of him as a person. Newspapers pointed out that these kind of approval ratings are comparable with Richard Nixon’s at a similar point in his second term. Implicit in the comparison is that Nixon, who was president during a mass anti-war movement against the Vietnam War, was forced to resign before the end of his second term in the Watergate scandal.
Karl Debbaut, CWI, 2 March 2006
Since the destruction of the sacred Shiah Askariya mosque in Samarra, north of Baghdad, more than 1300 people have died in bomb attacks, assasinations and revenge killings. Shia and Sunni militias have, in spite of curfews and repeated calls from some of the religious leaders, continued to pintpoint each others communities in brutal and bloody attacks. Still, Bush continuous to deny that there is any problem. Asked what Wasinghton could do when civil war broke out in Iraq, Mr Bush said to ABC news: "I do not buy your premise that there’s going to be a civil war in Iraq".
Not surprinsingly Dick Cheney, the American vice-president who proved his shooting prowess recently by taking aim at one of his lawer friends, has even worse approval ratings. Only 18% of the Americans surveyed had a favourable view of him.
In a poll conducted amongst US troops in Iraqi bases, 72% of the soldiers said the US should withdraw in 2006, more than a third of the troops said they should leave immediately. Just over one in five agreed with the US president that they should stay in Iraq "as long as needed".
The fall in support for Bush points to a growing radicalisation in US society. The first signs are there of a growing class consciousness and the reemergence of class struggle. Members of Socialist Alternative, have written reports on this website about the New York transport workers strike and the ongoing struggle of the auto workers in Flint. Through their struggles, US workers will learn again and again that neither the Democrats nor the Republicans will stand up for working people. These struggles must be the beginning of a campaign for the working class and the labour movement to build its own political party and to challenge the profit-addicted system of poverty, racism and war.
Committee for a Workers' International