Public Opinion and SOTU Address

The Gallup Organization has a good overview of public opinion regarding a number of likely key elements in Bush's State of the Union Address tonight. Their findings, based on polls taken as recently as January 12-15 of this year, include the following:

Bush's job approval numbers are still solid at 53 percent, though 10 points off his mid-December numbers.

The sense that the economy is in good shape is also at 53 percent, which is about 20 points higher than this time last year (though down from the number posted earlier this year).

Partial Social Security privatization polls well, with Gallup consistently reporting favorable responses in the high-50s and -60s over the past several years.

Comments

[shane]

Is the system in Chile privatized or did it create different government plans and have choice for which to invest?

Maybe that direction would appeal to even more people while leaning in the direction of privatization.

[joe]

The Social Security question receives wildly varyin levels of support, depending on how the question is asked. While this is true of most polling questions, it is especially so on this one. Beware of drawing any broad conclusions on the basis of this poll.