Poll: Voters fear John McCain will follow George Bush's policies

Well, we'll admit it, we're suckers for polls, and a recent one that our cousins at The Swamp tipped us to is interesting -- showing that Barack Obama is tapping a potentially rich vein in trying to tie John McCain to George Bush.

The Gallup/USA Today poll found that 68% of voters said they were concerned when asked whether they thought McCain would pursue "policies that are too similar to what George W. Bush has pursued." Of those polled, 49% said they were "very concerned."

As the poll analysis points out: "It is clearly a delicate balancing act for McCain, as Bush remains relatively popular with the Republican base. While only 28% of Americans approve of the job Bush is doing as president, a majority of Republicans (60%) still do. Bush's approval rating among current McCain supporters is slightly lower, at 55%."

Dive deeper into the poll and something else interesting emerges -- people aren't all that keen on change, either. Some 49% said they were concerned when asked whether "Obama would go too far in changing the policies that George W. Bush pursued." Of those polled, 30% said they were "very concerned."

So the advantage for the moment goes to change -- in moderation. Which might help explain Obama's embrace Tuesday of the concept behind the Bush administration's faith-based initiative program.

-- Scott Martelle   

Comments

[Wm Tate]

"policies that are too similar to what George W. Bush has pursued."

Okay, so you like polls. But are push polls now considered legitimate news stories?

-Wm Tate,
http://www.atimelikethis.us/

[DaveFromFL]

Well, the media has been telling the voters that now for months. Unfortunately, most voters will allow the media to form their opinions.

[swede]

What is a hero? To me a hero is Audry Murphy, a decorated combat soldier of WW2. Another hero is Charles Lindberg, corporal United State Marine Corp. Who raised the flag on Iwo Jima.
I can't put John McCain, into that group. He is an unfortunate soul that got shot down over North Vietnam. A hero does something exceptional. John was doing his job that he was trained for. He was unlucky and took a hit, nothing more nothing less.

[Rick K]

And what is most troublesome about this poll is that it is one-sided. Politicians lie alot and everyone is aware of that. So who says Obama won't follow some or all of Bush's guidelines?

[DoTheMath]

McCain is not really a Bush clone. They're more like twins. You can tell them apart, but only if you look very closely.

[mo]

Please, John McCain like Bush. Not in your life. He calls himself a republican but he really is a liberal. He should belong to the democratic party. Nothing to fear in this election, two liberals running.

[Brian Randall]

McCain obviously doesn't want the public to watch the polls. Forget about what people are thinking until 48 hours before the election. Hopefully, America remembers Lady Liberty and the rights of the little guys on Election Day. American liberty is at stake. Save your country from runaway stagflation, inflation and squirrelly thought police. President Bob Barr in 2008. Responsible leadership for our troubled and tortured unconstitutional Bushian times.

www.BobBarr2008.com

[john]

1st issue is McCain is not eligible to be president... Article II section 1 Clause 5. Second funny how Cain is for free trade except where INBEV and Bud are at issue... Funny how this Corporate Fascist protects his wife's beer distributorship. (another government theft through ATF laws). Not only Bush II but he seems to be revisiting Iran Contra Bush I issue of chasing drug money. The main stream media and RNC is criminal in not reporting Isman media lobbied bills and S&L thefts to American taxpayers. No wonder 48% of the people don't vote. As a conservative free trader you have no choice. The lesser of two evils is still evil.. The fireworks should start in Minneapolis. It is amazing how much crap the criminal political parties are shoveling with the media.

[otonomus maximus]

McBush 08!! 100 more years!!

[meme]

My opinion on this matter is that bush hasn't really been a good leader through his 8 year term, he has brought the United States down with him. The United States which is suppose to be the strongest nation is right now in a big economic issue, Barack Obama and Jhon Mcain they have different point of views and to tell you the truth I go with obama as our next president as he will not follow the same policies that George W. Bush will leave, now that's a leader, Macain who will follow the same policies will only bring the United States to an even badder economic issue.

Im only 17 so i cant vote, my opinion stands firm and one should know the difference between a Republican and a Democrate, and who they help as of the rich or the poor and right now the U.S is helping other countries, when we should be helping other than our selfs right now. When they did an interview to Macain he addressed to the nation that he will continue the war, Obama says no more suffering to this nation, but lets be realist if obama takes out the war its going to take some time to get our soldiers to get back, but of course its better than doing nothing and getting more of our soldiers killed for a war that has been going for 5 years and we have not won anything. So when you vote people please think about the family's in our nation that will suffer if we continue this war.

[DCX2]

It gets worse. Check out this FireDogLake article. McCain is so crazy that even after we found out there were no WMD and there was no connection to al-Qaeda and thousands of Americans died and tens of thousands of Americans were injured and hundreds of thousands of Iraqis were killed and millions of Iraqi refugees were internally and externally displaced...he still thinks this was all a good idea.

Way to give the finger to 2/3 of America, McCain.

http://firedoglake.com/2008/07/01/even-now-mccain-says-he-still-wouldve-invaded-iraq-presumably-for-the-hell-of-it/

In an interview with reporters on the back of his campaign bus, the “Straight Talk Express” Monday afternoon, McCain said that even in retrospect he would still have voted to authorize the war, as he did in 2002.

“I think there's no question,” said the Republican's likely presidential nominee.

[American Sharecropper]

A well founded fear if not a media generated one. Both candidates represent the status quo, neither will stray far from the accepted big government doctrine and the media will continue to document the rise of the Slave/Police state without question or concern. This is nothing new, only one sided. Both McCain and Obama will continue to travel down the same path as the last several presidents, differing only superficially. America will continue down the path of ancient Rome, spending ourselves towards our demise as we continue to maintain troops worldwide. Liberties will continue to erode as both candidates will maintain the federal governments expanding dictatorial role in our daily lives. Neither will change our confiscatory tax structure in any way significant. Both will continue to re-arrange the deck chairs on the Titanic while maintaining the illusion that there is a difference between the two.

What have we become as a nation to nominate the likes of these two despicable men?

[JSG]

Bush = Conservative = Failure = McCain.

It's pretty clear- electing any conservative will be bad for the country, no matter what the office or who the person is. Republicans from small towns all the way to the Oval Office are revealed to be criminals following a radical anti-US agenda. No amount of bloviating radio propaganda is going to change that.

Thankfully, McCain takes every possible opportunity to pledge his allegiance to Bush and the failed conservative agenda. It's not hard to tie McCain to Bush, since he's doing it himself.

Stay the course, Republicans. It's not working, but you guys can get it to work!

[larry clifton]

The only fear is that of liberals at the LA Times. They fear the shaply declining numbers of sheep who believe their editorials will not show up at the real polls.

[Tom]

I think its hilarious that ex Hillary supporters get all puffy chested ans say they are voting McCain...NO YOU'RE NOT! when it comes down to the wire, you will have put on your big girl britches and vote your party...

[Bill Sharpe]

Remember Mr. Bomb, bomb, bomb bomb, bomb Iran... :-(

Do you remember this one?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iran_Air_Flight_655

Bill

[Sam F]

Correction:

You state "The Gallup/USA Today poll found that 68% of voters said ... Of those, 49% said they were "very concerned."

That is not correct. "Of those" means that 49% of the people who said they were concerned were "very concerned," which would be 33% of the total sample. Actually, 49% of the TOTAL sample said that they were "very concerned."

This mistake is repeated in a later paragraph about the Obama question.

You can correct this error simple by removing the phrase "of those," to wit: "The Gallup/USA Today poll found that 68% of voters said ... 49% said they were "very concerned."

[Good catch -- we dropped the word "polled" in that construct, and have added it to say "Of those polled..." Thanks -- coffee hasn't kicked in yet here on the West Coast.]

[jaqphule]

Unfortunately, it's a fait accompli that Obama will win, unless we yet again get a swing vote either by the SCOTUS or by Diebold.

My biggest worry about an Obama win is that Obama will also follow George Bush's policies to a much greater degree than most folk are yet willing to believe. Guns AND butter! Again! What could be better?

[luvwknd]

Guaranteed, McSame will follow very similar footsteps to Dumbo, thus vote Obama unless you’re an idiot Repuklican who believes Dumbo is doing good for this country, and if so…then you are a minority because most Americans (and the rest of the world for that matter) believe GWB is an idiot & his policies are moronic!

Vote DEMOCRATIC to get this nation back on track!

[Stephan Andrew Brodhead]

You state some poll data, and then you make the conclusion that "change in moderation " has the edge. This is retarded. Most of your polls are done in areas that are predominately democratic. In addition using "courting faith based organizations" is false. Everything you post is scewed toward Obama.

[Mark]

Bush's policy of so-called "faith-based" initiatives was simply a back door attempt to break down the fire wall between church and state that was put in place (wisely) by the Founders. Obama's commitment to maintain (and perhaps expand) this policy is nothing more than a shameless and transparent effort to tap into Bush's evangelical base. The man has no scruples whose sole belief system is rooted in self-promotion and the will to win at any cost.

[David Sand]

How about doing a series of polls on the issues and then show the results as a polychotomous key?

[Paul]

I wish he would be like President Bush and if Congress would have allowed us to start tapping OUR OWN GOD GIVEN recources (before some other counrty figures how to take them from us), LIKE PRESIDENT BUSH HAS CONSISTENTLY ASKED FOR since he was elected, our economy would be great right now! Also, isn't it funny how Obama likes the Bush Faith based program! Amazing! I pray that Senator McCain becomes more like Pres Bush everyday! Then, maybe, I'll vote for him!

[John Crawford]

I think we can relax a bit on the number of respondents who are afraid Obama might change too much of Bush's policies. I don't know a single Independent or Democrat who isn't overwhelmingly convinced that we need a sea change in our government.

I am not a bit timid about upsetting the 30% of Republican voters who are hunkered down in a Norquist-style anti-government stance. Pollsters might better serve us to see if these are the same respondents who fill their heads with Limbaugh, Hannity and O'Reilly every day and night.

[tom]

lets see..bush and McCain..both want to..bomb Iran for Israel..keep a worthless dollar policy..have 58 bases in Iraq..keep our soldiers in Iraq forever..keep spending 12 billion a month in Iraq..add another 5 trillion to our national debt..keep us dependent on oil..drill off shore..when oil companies have millions of acres that they haven't drilled on yet..overturn roe v wade..both were against the new gi bill..until it passed and then both claimed they were pushing for it..both against cars that run on water..American Stan Meyers developed it in 1998..but Honda is going to mass produce it..both for nuke energy..against wind turbines and solar..