January 31, 2006
How Low Can You Go? The RNC's State of the Union Expectations Game
A BUZZFLASH NEWS ALERT
News from DNC:
Washington, DC – Yesterday, Matthew Dowd, the senior advisor and pollster to the Republican National Committee, distributed a fake polling memo which attempted to lower expectations for the President's State of the Union address tonight. Specifically, the memo tried to argue that President Bush is unlikely to see a positive, "State-of-the-Union Bounce" in his poll numbers following the speech. These assertions are hardly credible given the press accounts following the last four Bush State of the Union addresses.
"As you'd expect from an Administration with Presidential poll numbers as low as we've seen since Richard Nixon, Dowd's memo is about as credible as Enron's profit statements," said DNC Communications Director Karen Finney. "Given that his numbers can't get much worse, instead of trying to lower expectations, President Bush should offer credible plans to lower the deficit, lower the price of gas and lower heath care costs without creating the same disaster as his response to hurricane Katrina."
President “Always” Gets A Bump From State Of The Union. During an appearance on CNN, Rick Dunham, White House correspondent for Business Week Magazine, noted that, "And if you look at the CNN. … Gallup polls, [the] president always gets a big bump out of State of the Union. There hasn't been a bad State of the Union speech, according to instant reaction, for -- I mean, for all these years." [CNN, Reliable Sources, 2/3/02]
2005: "Poll: Bush wins converts among speech-watchers" [CNN.com, 2/2/05]
2004: "Speech Watchers React Positively to Bush's Message" [Gallup Poll News Service, 1/21/04]
2003: "Poll: Bush Gets Boost From Speech" [CBS, 1/29/03]
2002: "Bush, sustaining stratospheric poll ratings after Tuesday's State of the Union address…" [Washington Post, 2/2/02]
A BUZZFLASH NEWS ALERT