It's 100 days and counting for U.S. President George W. Bush. So far, so good. His approval ratings are better than those of most of his predecessors at this stage. He survived his first international crisis nicely, achieving the return of the American aircrew who ditched their EP-3 surveillance plane in China.
The president has been somewhat scarce in the media. He has been traveling a good bit, maintaining the kind of campaign schedule that his predecessor Bill Clinton began. It worked for Clinton, and it can probably work for Bush. The travel schedule means fewer national or network stories, and more high-impression local stories in the markets he visits. A study conducted by the Project for Excellence in Journalism reported over the weekend that there were 41 percent fewer stories about Bush on network TV during this period compared to Clinton's first 100 days. What the American people are seeing is a careful manager at work, not necessarily a political person wooing voters. Polls show that Bush is seen favorably by 63 percent of the American public, with just 32 percent rating him negatively. He gets positive marks for his handling of the economy (55 percent), international affairs (62 percent), tax cutting (54 percent) and education (60 percent). On environmental issues, he falls to 47 percent.
The partisan prism presents differing views of Bush. The Republicans are almost unanimous in their support of Bush, with 94 percent of them seeing him favorably. Democrats are more skeptical, with just 39 percent giving him passing marks.