Andrew Kohut Quotes (47 Quotes)

What will help President Bush on the war in Iraq is for things to improve on the ground. But barring that, I think he's probably well served to appear to be hearing about the critics and not appear to be out of touch and in a bubble.

People are drawing their own inferences and conclusions based on what they see on television. The reports of 85 people killed one day and 55 people killed the next day and mosques blown up, it's hard for people not to think that this does not represent instability and a lack of progress.

This wasn't a definitive debate. Bush didn't put Gore away Gore didn't put Bush away.

Sept. 11 made Americans aware of our national security vulnerability, and there is a good chance that Katrina will raise the public's consciousness about the weakness of our social safety net, ... I don't think there is going to be a call for big new government programs, but there is going to be a refocus from the public on dealing with poverty and the people left behind.

One-third of the national sample said all illegal aliens should be sent home now one-third say they support guest-worker status accorded to some form and some period of time, and one-third said let them all stay.

We still live in a time where people feel threatened, and the Democrats have been at a disadvantage on this issue, and for them to make progress they have to address it.

Americans are depressed, angry and very worried about the economic consequences of the disaster.

Bush's numbers are going from bad to worse, and there is no silver lining. People just see more and more bad news everywhere and they don't see a way out.

To rebuild his personal trust he must get people feeling better about his performance.

He is not a jocular personality. He's not out talking in the public a lot. Certainly, the Scooter Libby problem, which has really added to the White House woes, is associated with him. All of these things tend to make him a bigger heavy for Bush's critics

This probably has to do with the aging of the population and more people confronting these situations. The poll found that people who have participated in decisions about end-of-life or had loved ones with illnesses in the last five years are much more likely to have thought about end-of-life treatments or to have living wills.

Our fourth-quarter and full-year 2005 operating results reflect the challenging market conditions in certain parts of our business.

If there's less violence there generally and our people are not getting hurt and there is some feeling that this is a better place than it was, there might be some benefit for Bush -- or at least stop the bleeding.

In May 2003, many Muslims saw a worldwide threat to Islam and bin Laden represented opposition to the West and the United States, ... Tempers have since cooled.

With gay marriage there's the whole question of what marriage represents, in what's a religious ceremony for many people.

The transformation from being seen as honest to being seen as incompetent is an extraordinary indicator of how far he has fallen.

Attitudes are a little more complicated than thumbs up or thumbs down. Americans do care about Iraq, but it doesn't have the personal impact that the war in Vietnam had. Secondly, this is a more patriotic time. Even though the public is disillusioned with the war in Iraq, it tends to support the concept of preemptive war at a time when most people feel we're at risk.

The threat from Iran has really penetrated, with two of three saying Iran's nuclear program represents a major threat. Among people who have been following news about the issue, there's even greater concern.

Media coverage both shapes and reflects public opinion. The press coverage in the run-up to the war was very pro-war and the country was very pro-war.

Rebuilding power stations doesn't offset people's concerns about so much violence and the possibility for civil war as time goes by. The slaughter of one Iraqi by another Iraqi is just head-turning.

This important question of the trade-off of civil liberties and protection is one the public takes very seriously,

this has not been one of the issues at the forefront of debate about the Supreme Court.

Even when we were struggling, people had been reluctant to think that Iraq would turn out like Vietnam, a failure for the United States.

It's fraught with all sorts of social meaning. In the modern era, it's the issue that has most divided liberals and conservatives.

People do make a distinction between what someone does in his personal life and his ability to do his job. However, if this involved perjury or obstruction of justice, which speaks to his role as president, the public has not come to any conclusion on that yet.

There's a lot of centrism among the public about abortion, ... It's very easy for the activists to scare most Americans, who have a nuanced view of abortion, either from the pro-life or the pro-choice perspective.

There's nothing that suggests this is a breakout election, ... People know it's a close race, but that doesn't appear to have compelled them any more than the walkover election four years ago.

It's not all one way with respect to the problem of immigration, and certainly with respect to immigrants themselves.

We keep reading stories about five Marines dying today and 55 Shiites being blown up in Baghdad, ... There is considerable frustration over that, and that frustration is the source of political problem for Bush. He's got his name on this war.

The Democrats have a much stronger case on domestic issues than they do on this one, unless it begins to look a little more dicey in respect to its effects on civil right of a broader base of people.

Politically he has to improve his fortunes or his party might well take it on the chin come next November.

This is an issue that he has to contend with ... restoring confidence that people can take his word for things.

Maybe I'm alone in this view. But I'd think that Gore, if he were to lose, might have a hard time capturing the nomination because he failed to win at a time of great prosperity and having a president with a 55 approval rating despite 'Clinton fatigue' and all that. Many might argue that the problems were based on the candidate and not on the issues.

What moves public opinion are big events things just don't happen. If things were to go swimmingly in Iraq, or if the economy were to take off like a rocket, that might silence Bush's critics.

We have more people saying we have to get our troops out now and more people saying what they hadn't been saying, which is we may not succeed.

There's not as much economic optimism as might be warranted by hard economic indicators.

The No. 1 instinct in politics is survival, ... going to have a much harder time than he's had so far in ... keeping people close to him.

Bush is seen as a good protector for the country. The more the perceived missteps, the greater the chances for further declines in support.

The overall finding of public opinion since the September 11 attacks is that the American public is willing to see the rules bent a little bit in the war on terrorism.

People with the most exposure to immigrants have fewer problems with them as a group.

Most Americans still oppose gay marriage, but the levels of opposition are down, and the number of strong opponents is down. This has some implications for the midterm elections if this trend is maintained. There are gay marriage ballot initiatives in numerous states.

After so long when the polls were deadlocked no matter what happened, now we have a situation where voter opinion is unsettled. There's a lot of uncertainty and you're going to have more variation in the polls than we've had in the past.

I think he is the point man for the discontent with the Bush administration. There are many people who associate him with Bush policies, notably the war in Iraq, that they are very unhappy with.

It's become a rather substantial drag on Gore, amplified by the attention being focused on Mrs. Clinton's Senate campaign.

The Republicans were making gains through the first four years of the administration - and they could have consolidated those gains and made further gains, ... I don't want to preclude anything, but with 38 percent approval ratings, Republicans gains are going to be hard to come by. More likely they will experience reversals.

The comedy shows have gotten into political satire, and it's been an increasingly important way that some segments of the world get their news. For that reason, the political satire shows look hard for material that comes from the news. Sometimes they don't have to look very hard, like today.

He needs some good news in Iraq. He would be well served by a successful election.