On the March 15 edition of MSNBC's Hardball, host Chris Matthews was incredulous and “amazed” when confronted with a March 10-13 NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll showing that just 39 percent of respondents expressed “positive” feelings toward President Bush, compared with 50 percent who expressed “negative” feelings. In a discussion of the poll, Mathews admitted, “I'm amazed when 50 percent of the people don't like him -- just don't like this guy.”

As Media Matters for America has noted (here and here), Matthews has repeatedly inflated Bush's likeability ratings. Appearing on the March 1 edition of NBC's Today, Matthews falsely suggested that until a new CBS News poll indicated otherwise, Bush had personal likeability numbers “going for him.” In fact, Bush's favorability ratings have been low for some time; they were low when Matthews said in November 2005 that “Everybody sort of likes the president, except for the real whack-jobs, maybe on the left.”

From the March 15 edition of MSNBC's Hardball with Chris Matthews:

MATTHEWS: I always thought Bush was more popular than his policies. I keep saying it, and I keep being wrong on this. Bush is not popular. I'm amazed when 50 percent of the people don't like him -- just don't like this guy. Thirty-nine percent like him. Are you surprised? Does that fit with the world you walk in?