Montanans’ support for Bush, handling of war slips, poll says

HELENA – Montanans’ support for President Bush and his handling of the war in Iraq have continued to decline over the past several months, a new poll shows.

Just 41 percent of Montanans gave Bush positive job-performance marks in a poll conducted by Mason-Dixon Polling & Research Inc. of Washington, D.C., for the Lee Newspapers of Montana.

That compares with 43 percent from a poll conducted by the same company in May.

The latest telephone poll questioned 625 Montana voters, who were selected at random, on topics ranging from state officials to the war. It was conducted Dec. 13-15 and had a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points.

Approval of the president’s handling of the war in Iraq has decreased from 41 percent in the last poll on the topic in November, to 33 percent in the latest tally.

However, the percentage of people who say they disapprove of the war itself has changed little since November, with 55 percent saying they disapproved of it last month and 54 percent saying they disapprove now.

The bigger change occurred in the number of people who are undecided. In November, just 4 percent said they weren’t sure about Bush’s handling of Iraq. In the most recent poll, that number increased to 13 percent.

Bush’s approval rating and Montanans’ thoughts on the war were closely tied to political party identification, the most recent poll showed.

Among voters who identified themselves as Republicans, 77 percent gave Bush a positive rating, with 32 percent saying Bush is doing an “excellent” job.

Among Democrats, only 6 percent gave the president a positive ranking and virtually none said Bush was doing an excellent job. Ninety-four percent of self-identified Democrats gave Bush a negative ranking, and almost none were undecided.

Independent voters tended to give Bush low marks, as well. Just 34 percent gave him a positive job-approval rating, while 65 percent gave him negative marks.

Although Bush’s job-approval ratings have dropped from a high of 84 percent in December 2001, his 41 percent approval rating in Montana is among the highest in an individual state, said Brad Coker, managing director of Mason-Dixon.