According to a pair of just-released polls, President Bush's approval ratings are hovering at all-time lows -- 39% or so of American think he's doing a good job. But among African Americans, the numbers are shockingly, almost unbelievably bad. In an NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll, Bush received only 2% -- that's right, just TWO PERCENT -- approval rating from African Americans. And Clarence Thomas was probably half of that! Ha ha. Seriously, though, these low ratings are an almost impossibly, unimaginably bad rating by Black Americans for a President of the United States. Usually, you don't see ratings this low for any public figure besides Saddam Hussein! And even if one takes the 12% approval rating from the recent Pew Center poll, it's still hideous. And this comes after a major Republican effort for several years now to court Black voters. According to NBC's Tim Russert:
George Bush and the Republican Party has tried very hard to reach out to African-American voters, but this is a very dramatic setback. I cannot find a pollster who can remember any President ever getting just 2 percent approval from African-Americans.
So, what's the problem here?
Well, according to Peter Hart, who conducted the NBC/Wall Street Journal poll with Republican Bill McInturff:
African Americans were not supporters [of Bush], but I don't think that they outright detested him -- until now. The actions in and around Katrina persuaded African Americans that this was a president who was totally insensitive to their concerns and their needs.
David Bositis of the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies adds that Bush "has taken a hit from both the ongoing things in Iraq and what happened with Katrina."
Or could it be the post-Katrina view among "six in 10 blacks" who "said the federal government was slow in rescuing those stranded in New Orleans after Katrina because many of the people in the Louisiana city were black."
Or how about the views of many African Americans that "the president's approach has done little to improve the lives of blacks struggling with low wages, high unemployment and crime."
Or the fact that the rich are getting richer under Bush and the Republicans, the poor are getting poorer, crime is going up, and all the social ills that had been improving during the 1990s are now getting worse? As Ronald Gay, 53, of East Wilson, N.C sais yesterday, "Look at Katrina. The federal government arrived late, they suspend work rules so they can pay poor people less, they award no-bid contracts. This guy [Bush] is killing us."
So, what does this have to do with Virginia? Quite simple. For Black Virginians, here it is in a nutshell: if you like George W. Bush, you'll LOVE Jerrry W. Kilgore. These two guys are peas in a pod. In fact, when Jerry Kilgore was asked whether or not Hurricane Katrina made him think about the gulf between haves and have-nots in this country, his answer was very simple - "no." And Kilgore's policy proposals for Virginia would directly harm African Americans, from his raids on education dollars to his neglect and disparagement of heavily African American cities like Richmond. Oh, and don't forget the Jerry Kilgore/Scott "Black Hands Ad" Howell use of racially loaded code words in this campaign.
Quite simply, for African Americans, Jerry W. Kilgore is George W. Bush in Virginia. That's why I urge African Americans, in their own STRONG self interest, to turn out in DROVES on November 8 and make sure we don't get another "Mr. 2%" right here in Virginia!
P.S. By the way, Bush's approval ratings aren't too hot among Hispanic Americans, another group that Karl Rove has tried to court. In the Pew Poll, only 24% of Hispanics approved of Bush, with 74% disapproving. And Jerry Kilgore has based a good chunk of his campaign on immigrant (read: Hispanic) bashing. Nice job, guys!