President Bush is one of the least popular presidents since anyone began keeping track. In New Hampshire, his overall approval rating is down to 24%, according to the latest Granite State Poll. Even more troubling, almost half of the Republicans in the state think he's doing a poor job.
Today, we check in with Republican voters in Exeter, New Hampshire. We're following the residents of that town in our series, Primary Place.
New Hampshire Public Radio's Jon Greenberg wanted to learn how disaffection with President Bush affects how these voters size up their presidential options.
Talking to Republican voters teaches you to be careful about how you interpret surveys. It’s true that President Bush gets failing grades from the great majority of New Hampshire voters but when a Democrat says he disapproves of the way the president is handling his job, it means something very different than when a Republican says the same thing.
These days, when Bush speaks, I’m scared to death of what he’s gonna say.
We caught up with Maryann and Dennis Brady right after they had seen Republican Mitt Romney speak at the Exeter Town Hall. They agreed with Romney’s implied criticism of Bush, that the president had surrounded himself with yes men. Maryann and Dennis voted for Bush twice and worked on his campaign. Dennis says, they still like what he stands for but see him as a victim of bad advice.
I think he does have good values. And I think he’s a good person. He didn’t have a good balance in the people he was listening to and they took him down the wrong path. The wrong path for him and the wrong path for the country.
By wrong path, Dennis means the way the president has managed the Iraq War. But unlike many Democrats, neither he nor Maryann feel that Bush lied to or intentionally misled the American people. They are lifelong Republicans and they are comfortable with the choices they face among the GOP contenders. The lesson they draw from Bush is the country needs someone who’s a more skilled executive to advance the Republican agenda.
The past seven years have not left all Exeter Republicans so confident in their beliefs or trustful of Republican leadership.
SFX – brief nondescript outdoor ambiance
On one of the main roads radiating out of downtown Exeter, there’s a large, white farm house.
It was built by my great-great-grandfather and round, we’re not sure. Footprint shows up in an 1802 map.
Peter Smith, a retired school teacher, can trace his family’s roots in Exeter back to the 1650’s He jokes, “I haven’t gone very far.†His political leanings used to be equal reliable. He voted for Bush in 2000 and again in 2004. Now, he says he’s disillusioned.
You know, it’s like, hearing a person campaign for the first time in New Hampshire and he has all kinds of great ideas. And he gets elected. And he gets into Washington. And within a couple of years, he’s a carbon copy of everybody else.
Peter feels that people in Washington have no understanding of the needs of ordinary people and Bush is no different. He’s tired of the influence of lobbyists and no longer identifies as purely as he once did with core Republican ideas. We first crossed paths with Peter at a house party for Democratic candidate John Edwards, but Peter is wary of candidates from either side of the aisle.
I’m almost waiting for a third party to come marching down the street -- that will stick to their guns, will look to the future, solve the problems and get us out of the mess that have been created by the other two.
The dream that someone extraordinary -- some incredibly competent outsider -- will appear on the scene, is powerful. But those that dream it are even more likely to feel that their actual choices fall far short.
I’d like to see someone step up and get something done but I’m getting so cynical now that I don’t think it will happen.
Laurie Kelly has three children, the youngest is a senior at Exeter High School. She comes from a solidly Republican family. Her grandfather was a friend of Barry Goldwater and Ronald Reagan. Her father is a Republican activist and fundraiser. But while she voted for Bush twice, she doesn’t like him.
I feel like a traitor, you know with this major Republican upbringing.
Laurie gives Bush failing grades on many fronts. The inability to rebuild New Orleans, pork laden spending bills, and above all, the Iraq War, which she thinks should never have taken place. Her youngest son is interested in the military and she says that is no war worth putting his life at risk. Asked which candidates, Republican or Democratic, would be most likely to resolve the conflict, Laurie answers reluctantly.
I hate to say this, but I’m almost thinking the Democrats will. They’re more open to figuring out what’s right, rather than the Republicans staying there. They’re all for it.
Certainly not every Republican is in turmoil but at the very least, the unpopularity of George Bush has sapped the energy of many GOP voters here in Exeter, NH.
For NHPR News, I’m Jon Greenberg.
