Several blogs around town noted that Pelosi’s approval ratings are lower than Bush’s. (His are 45%, hers are 43%).
Volokh points out, correctly, that everyone knows Bush. Therefore, practically everyone who didn’t approve of him, actively disapproved: 54%.
On the other hand, there are a lot of people who neither approved nor disapproved of Pelosi. Her disapproval rating is only 39%.
So, more than half the people in the survey disapprove of Bush, whereas only 39% disapprove of Pelosi.
It’s interesting to me that approval ratings alone can be valuable and telling when dealing with a president, while less telling when dealing with a lesser-known figure. I promise you that I’d find this just as interesting if the numbers were flipped.
To their credit, some of the right-leaning blogs do agree that the approval numbers alone don’t tell the whole story. (Instapundit, Don Surber)
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