At Least One Red State Still Has Bush On Its Mind

The other day on this blog we showed you several polls indicating that President Bush's support is weakening at its core, including the Southeastern states. At least one Dixie state has kept the faith though. In the latest Strategic Vision poll, this time in Georgia, Bush's approval rating still stands at 51%, while 39% disapprove. Fifty-three percent approve of Bush's handling of the war in Iraq and 54% of Georgians polled think he is doing a good job in fighting the so-called war on terror.
By the way, if you scroll all the way to the bottom of this poll you'll find two New Yorkers, Hillary Clinton and Rudy Giuliani, atop the list of presidential candidates in their respective parties.

New York 1 and Newsday published part two of their latest poll today. Again, not much to get excited about. The poll indicates Sen. Clinton seems to have a smooth ride ahead in her re-election bid. Clinton leads Republican challenger John Spencer 57% to 30%, but the poll doesn't include the latest contender, former Reagan administration official KT McFarland who announced this week.

On the presidential front, this state-wide poll indicates Giuliani seems to be the strongest of the three (or might it be four) New Yorkers who are considering a run. Fifty-nine percent of those polled said Giuliani has a good or excellent chance of being elected president. With Clinton, it's a good news-bad news situation, with 50% saying she has a good-to-excellent chance and 46% saying she has no chance or not much of a chance. While 50% of those polled by News 1/Newsday approve of the job George Pataki is doing as governor, most voters don't see him as a strong presidential candidate. A total of 69% of voters said Pataki has no chance or not much of a chance of being president. Mayor Bloomberg, who is being goaded by some in his organization to run, has a 70% approval rating but the poll did not ask about his prospects in a presidential bid.

Back to the Senate race. Stuart Rothenberg, editor of the Rothenberg Political Report, has a post on PoliticalWire.com today, arguing that much too much is being made of the entry of KT McFarland into the race. Rothenberg contends that no matter how you slice it the end result is Hillary in a walk. Meanwhile The Journal News did an interview with the new candidate, published today. After reading it I'm more confused than ever about McFarland's views on abortion, the one issue that seems to set her apart from her Reagan crowd.