What the Iraq speech cost Bush

Polls may indicate that $87 billion request eroded support

By Mike Allen
THE WASHINGTON POST

WASHINGTON, Sept. 20 — President Bush has often used major speeches to bolster his standing with the public, but pollsters and political analysts have concluded that his recent prime-time address on Iraq may have had the opposite effect - crystallizing doubts about his postwar plans and fueling worries about the cost.

A PARADE of polls taken since the Sept. 7 speech has found notable erosion in public approval for Bush’s handling of Iraq, with a minority of Americans supporting the $87 billion budget for reconstruction and the war on terrorism that he unveiled.

“If Bush and his advisers had been looking to this speech to rally American support for the president and for the war in Iraq, it failed,” said Frank Newport, editor in chief of the Gallup poll. He said Bush’s speech may have cost him more support than it gained, “because it reminded the public both of the problems in Iraq and the cost.”

More