Demagogue

In this recent column, political commentator Bill Schneider offers this interpretation of the recent polls showing an improvement in the public's approval of President Bush:

Bush's current improvement looks like a blip at the end of a long slide. What's behind it? The economy, stupid.

Americans are beginning to feel better about the economy because gasoline prices are going down a bit and the stock market is nudging upward. Over the past month, the number of Americans saying that the nation's economy is in good shape rose from 47 percent to 55 percent in the CBS/Times poll.

However ...

Despite the improving economic outlook, Democrats still get higher marks when it comes to handling the economy (in the CBS/Times poll, 45 percent prefer the Democrats on the economy and 37 percent prefer the Republicans).

What about Iraq? The Democrats' advantage is surprisingly small: 40 percent say Democrats would handle Iraq better; 35 percent say Republicans.