One issue sustained President Bush for nearly four years after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks: public confidence in his ability to prosecute the war on terror.

Now, for the first time in an NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll, a substantial majority of respondents--55 percent--disapprove of the job Bush is doing in handling terrorism. The poll found that just 39 percent approved of the job he was doing.
 
An Oct. 30-Nov. 2 ABC News/Washington Post poll showed respondents split evenly, at 42 percent, on which party would do a better job on the issue. That represents a swing of 36 percent to the Democrats since 2002. In another question in a Nov. 4-7 NBC/WSJ poll, the GOP still had a 9-point advantage on terrorism, 35 percent to 26 percent.

A Pox on All their Houses. In the NBC/WSJ poll, only 29 percent said Bush had the same priorities as they did, while 65 percent said that Bush’s were different.

Asked the same question in reference to the two parties, 26 percent of respondents said the Democrats shared their priorities, while 54 percent said that theirs were different. For the Republicans, those responses were 24 percent and 58 percent, respectively.

Congress fared worst of all. When asked about Congress as a whole, only 19 percent said they thought the institution shared their priorities; 65 percent said Congress had different ones.

In another question, just 18 percent said the GOP had a very clear message and vision for the future, while 42 percent said it was somewhat clear, and 36 percent said it wasn’t clear. But even that was better than the Democrats managed: The responses were 11 percent, 40 percent and 45 percent, respectively.

One-third of respondents in a Nov. 8-9 Fox News/Opinion Dynamics survey said they approved the job the Democrats in Congress were doing, while 47 percent disapproved. That was marginally better than the Republicans, whose responses were 34 percent and 50 percent, respectively.

Who Knows Samuel Alito? In the new NBC/WSJ poll, 51 percent did not recognize the name of Supreme Court nominee Judge Samuel Alito or weren’t sure about it. Of the remainder, 19 percent had a positive image and 12 percent a negative image.

In a Pew Research Center early November poll, 21 percent said they were following news stories about Alito’s nomination “very closely.” Slightly more--24 percent--said they were closely following stories about the indictment of Scooter Libby, Vice President Cheney’s former top aide. A lot more--61 percent--said they were paying close attention to stories about the high price of gasoline.

In a Nov. 7-10 Gallup poll, exactly half of respondents said that the Senate should vote to confirm Alito. Twenty percent said it should not.

Cutting Spending, Handling Taxes. The NBC/WSJ poll found that 34 percent of respondents said Congress should enact a proposal to cut spending “for all federal government programs by 2 percent,” while 23 percent said Congress should do that but not immediately, and 37 percent said Congress should not enact this proposal.

For the first time since 1993, more respondents in the poll thought the Democratic Party would do a better job on dealing with taxes than the Republican Party, 40 percent to 30 percent.

Voting Difficulties? Sixteen percent of respondents said they had encountered problems finding the time to vote, according to the bipartisan polling team of The Tarrance Group (R) and Lake Snell Perry Mermin (D) in a late September-early October poll. The poll was commissioned by the Why Tuesday? voting advocacy group.

In a separate question, 15 percent said there had been times when they had been not well informed about the times and places they’d be able to vote.

And in another question, 13 percent said they had faced problems during the process of voting, such as long lines or having their votes challenged by election officials.

Personal Tragedies. Fifty-five percent told Fox News/Opinion Dynamics pollsters in mid-October that someone in their family had suffered a painful terminal illness, while 42 percent said that had not happened. Those responses were very similar to the polling partnership’s 2002 findings.

In an October poll, 19 percent told Gallup/CNN/USA Today interviewers that they personally had evacuated their home because they were in the path of a hurricane or other natural disaster. Eighty-one percent said they had not.

Almost three times as many Southerners reported having to evacuate as people outside the region.

Rescuing Man’s Best Friends. In mid-September, 57 percent told Zogby International interviewers that official rescue efforts for disasters should include plans for rescuing pets. Twenty-eight percent did not. And 54 percent disagreed with current Federal Emergency Management Agency and Red Cross policies that exclude pets from rescue efforts.

Karlyn H. Bowman is a resident fellow at AEI.