The Zarqawi Bounce II

Posted at 11:14 PM on June 12, 2006 by Bob Collins (3 Comments)

Short-lived, indeed. CBS is out with a poll that shows Bush's job approval rating down slightly from a month ago. It also shows folks -- about 80+ percent of them -- don't think the death of Zarqawi will make any difference.

Anticipating the "well, it is CBS afterall," reaction, has anyone see any polls that say something different. If so, please post. And thanks.

Now, as for where people's heads are right now (don't say it!), the Election 2006 polling report keeps track of the latest polls and generally the numbers seem to be around mid-30s (percent) favoring the GOP in congressional races, to mid to, perhaps, upper 40s (percent) for Democrats.

The thing is: those numbers don't seem to be moving much one way or the other, in some cases, since last fall. Now granted the numbers aren't particularly good for the GOP, but if there really is a growing realization that the country is on the wrong track, wouldn't those numbers be changing and becoming even worse for the GOP.

I'm not saying the numbers are right. I'm not saying the numbers are wrong. I'm saying I don't know.

I do know that driving home today, folks were driving closer to my 55 mph-movin' Chevy Cavalier. I notice gas hit $2.95 today. Anecdotal evidence, to be sure, but folks were zipping by at breakneck speeds when it was $2.75. So we may be heading into territory where people really are concerned about gas prices and are ready to take a swing at someone. Up until now, they weren't even willing to lift their foot off the gas.

Comments (3)

I've noticed that people are driving slower, and I'm seeing more instances of multiple persons in cars as well. No doubt talking about the price of gas on their way to work too. IMO, something stinks about how much prices have gone up for no apparent reason, unlike what happened last year after Hurricane Katrina. It's almost like the oil industry noticed how people paid $3/gal for gas then, and decided they could get more if they wanted it.

Posted by anonymous | June 13, 2006 8:47 AM

There seem to be more bicycle commuters; there also seem to be a lot more scooters, though its unclear if those are strictly recreational or used for commuting / errands.

Posted by bsimon | June 13, 2006 11:08 AM

I noticed that gasoline consumers were behaving more responsibly, too. Funny how increasing the price drives down demand. It's just so logical.

Not buying gasoline saves a lot more than the few pennies everyone is upset about at the pump. Consumers bear a relitively small portion of the real costs of gasoline consumption. Society bears a much greater portion of these. Consider road maintaince and lost productivity due to traffic congestion or environmental cleanup and the health costs that come from polution. National security spending is related to the low price of gasoline, and let's not forget the high incidence of accidental death associated with driving. The list goes on and on.

Oil conglomerates don't pay these costs. Why then should oil conglomerates be able to increase the price of gasoline? The solution is to rise the price as much as the market will bear, and then some, through a gasoline tax. It will not then be profitable for the oil company to raise the price further and we could use the revenue to offset some of the indirect costs of gasoline.

Some dismiss this idea as politically impossible, but it's been done sucessfully in Europe, and here in the US, we already have a modest gasoline tax. I suspect that it was politically impossible to enact as well. But we have it.

Posted by Justin C. Adams | June 13, 2006 2:37 PM

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