More than six in ten people, 62 percent, of respondents to the Pew Research Center poll, say that George Bush and his administration's policies have had a great deal (28 percent) or a fair amount (34 percent) to do with the fact that there have been no terrorist attacks in the United States since 2001.
Opinions about the administration's role in preventing terrorism, like other views about Bush and his policies, are deeply divided politically. Nearly half of Republicans (49%) say the administration's policies and actions have had a great deal to do with the fact that there have been no attacks in more than six years; just 14% of Democrats agree.
Nonetheless, nearly half of Democrats (47%) say those policies have had at least a fair amount to do with the absence of attacks since 2001. A solid majority of conservative and moderate Democrats (56%) credits the administration's policies with preventing attacks, compared with just 37% of liberal Democrats.
More interesting yet, for all the rhetoric we hear about our civil liberties being "infringed" upon, the plurality (47 percent) believes that the anti-terrorism policies have not gone far enough in protecting the country, while only 36 percent say their greater concern is that they have infringed upon the civil liberties of average Americans.
Monitoring communications.
Public attitudes regarding specific Bush administration anti-terrorism policies remain divided and highly politicized. A narrow majority (52%) continues to say it is right for the government to monitor the communications of suspected terrorists, without first getting court permission; 44% say this practice is generally wrong. Opinions on this issue have been stable for the past two years.
Republicans and Independents by far on the opposite sides of the political aisle when it comes to our anti-terrorism policies.
Partisan divide over major anti-terrorism policies.
On the issue of government surveillance of suspected terrorists without court approval, 74 percent of Republicans think the policy is generally right, a majority of Independents (52 percent) feel it is generally right and the Democrats are on the opposite side of the issue with only 39 percent thinking that policy is generally right. The average total of all political sides of that issue being 52 percent believing it is "generally right".
Being that the Democratically controlled Congress has let the the FISA amendments protecting our country expire, that is a very interesting figure that puts the Democratic leadership in direct opposition to the majority of Americans.
Bush still holds low approval numbers but he is being credited with preventing any further terror attacks upon the U.S. by Republicans and Independents and as was pointed out in the previous post, John McCain is seen by the plurality of Americans as being an "effective commander in chief", while less than 25 percent said the same of the Democratic candidates, Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama.
These latest figures show that the American people still see the Democrats as being weaker on National Security than the Republicans, which for a country at war, benefits the Republicans in a presidential election year.
With months left to go before the 2008 elections, the longer that Congress goes without passing the FISA amendment sent to them from the Senate, which passed in an overwhelming bipartisan majority, and the longer Congress shows the inability to keep America safe by letting that expire (it expired on February 16t, 2008), the worse it becomes for the Democratic candidates going into the presidential election.
Nancy Pelosi, being speaker of the house, is causing considerable harm to the Democratic candidates by going against the majority of Americans simply to pander to the far far left side of her political party.
So, while tempers flare over FISA and while Bush warns the house, the president, despite having low approval ratings, is fighting for what the majority of Americans believe he does deserve credit for...and that is protecting us from attacks on American soil.
The inability of Pelosi's Congress to provide the security needed for Bush to continue to protect America, is cutting the proverbial throat of her own party and her incompetence is being notice by the general public.
Time to put some pressure on Congress to get their jobs done and for Pelosi to stop hindering our country's ability to protect itself.
NRCC is asking citizens to sign a petition pressuring the Dems to act. (H/T to Malkin for the petition link)
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