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Poll: GOP Voters Backing Hastert
More than half of Americans -- 52 percent, including 29 percent of Republicans -- believe that House Speaker Dennis Hastert was aware of Congressman Mark Foley's inappropriate messages to teenage Congressional pages and tried to cover it up, according to the latest Newsweek Poll. Only 24 percent say he did not. A plurality of Americans, 42 percent, now say they trust Democrats to do a better job of handling moral values; 36 percent say they trust Republicans more. This represents almost a complete reversal from an Aug. 2-Sept. 1, 2002 Kaiser Family Foundation/Harvard/Washington Post poll in which 31 percent of Americans said they would trust Democrats to handle moral values better while 44 percent said they would trust Republicans more. On the subject of the war on terror at home and abroad, 44 percent of Americans trust the Democrats to handle it better-a five-point increase from the Aug. 10-11, 2006 Newsweek Poll. Thirty-seven percent trust the Republicans more-a seven-point drop from the same August Newsweek Poll. When it comes to the situation in Iraq, 47 percent of Americans say the Democrats would handle it better, versus 34 percent who say the Republicans would. Fifty-three percent say the Democrats would do a better job with the economy, while only 31 percent say Republicans would. Fifty-seven percent of those polled say the Democrats would do a better job with health care; 43 percent say they would do a better job with immigration, versus 34 percent who say Republicans would. Fifty-six percent say the Democrats would do a better job managing gas and oil prices and 53 percent say the would do a better job managing federal spending and the deficit. A majority of Americans, 53 percent, would like to see the Democrats take control of Congress in this year's elections, according to the Newsweek Poll. Only 35 percent say they would like the Republicans to keep control. And 51 percent of registered voters say that if the elections were held today they would vote for the Democratic candidate in their district, versus 38 percent who say they would vote Republican. Among likely voters, 51 percent would vote for the Democratic candidate and 39 percent for the Republican candidate.
Story Continues Below
President Bush's approval rating fell to a record low-33 percent-in the Newsweek Poll, a three-point drop from the Aug. 24-25, 2006 poll. Fifty-nine percent of Americans say they disapprove of how Bush is handling his job as president. Sixty-seven percent say they are dissatisfied with the way things are going in the United States; only 25 percent say they are satisfied. For the first time in the Newsweek Poll, a majority of Americans -- 58 percent -- believe that the Bush administration purposely misled the public about evidence that Iraq had banned weapons in order to build support for the war. Thirty-six percent say it did not. In general, 66 percent of Americans say that the Iraq war has not made Americans safer from terrorism; 29 percent say that it has. A 58-percent majority also say they are not too confident or not at all confident that the United States will successfully establish a stable democratic form of government in Iraq over the long term. Only 38 percent say they are somewhat or very confident. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld's approval rating has fallen to just 30 percent, with a plurality of Americans, 48 percent, saying he should resign. For this Newsweek Poll, Princeton Survey Research Associates International interviewed 1,004 adults aged 18 and older on October 5-6, 2006. The margin of error is plus or minus 4 percentage points. Editor's note:
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