Election Day Massacre - that has a nice ring to it. Karl Rove's mission? To woo his own rapidly-jumping-ship party members back to the sinking Dark Side. Heh, good luck with that, Darth Rove, good luck with the project of appeasing all your angry conservatives. Maybe free gas for life might do it. Nah, they'd never go for it, cuz it sounds like socialism.
Forbes:
Angry conservatives are driving the approval ratings of President Bush and the GOP-led Congress to dismal new lows, according to an AP-Ipsos poll that underscores why Republicans fear an Election Day massacre.
Six months out, the intensity of opposition to Bush and Congress has risen sharply, along with the percentage of Americans who believe the nation is on the wrong track.
The AP-Ipsos poll also suggests that Democratic voters are far more motivated than Republicans. Elections in the middle of a president's term traditionally favor the party whose core supporters are the most energized."
A majority of Americans say they want Democrats rather than Republicans to control Congress (51 percent to 34 percent). That's the largest gap recorded by AP-Ipsos since Bush took office. Even 31 percent of conservatives want Republicans out of power.
_ The souring of the nation's mood has accelerated the past three months, with the percentage of people describing the nation on the wrong track rising 12 points to a new high of 73 percent. Six of 10 conservatives say America is headed in the wrong direction.
Republican strategists said the party stands to lose control of Congress unless the environment changes unexpectedly. . .
It gets worse. Only 23 percent of the public approve of the way the president is handling gasoline prices, the lowest in AP-Ipsos polling. Those who strongly disapprove outnumber those who strongly approve by an extraordinary 55 percent to 8 percent.
As for his overall job performance, history suggests that Bush's paltry 33 percent spells trouble for Republicans in the fall.
In the past six decades, only one president had a lower job approval rating six months before a midterm election - Richard Nixon in May 1974, the year in which Watergate-scarred Republicans lost 48 seats in the House and four in the Senate.
By November, Nixon was out of a job too, having resigned the presidency in August.
Bush Cheney Job Approval Poll Congress Politics Election 2006 Nixon
