Appearing on the September 24 edition of MSNBC's Hardball with Chris Matthews, NBC News chief foreign affairs correspondent Andrea Mitchell laid out her view of the challenges faced by Senator John Kerry in the upcoming debates with President George W. Bush: “He's going to take the fight to the president, but they know that they have to be respectful. It is the office of the presidency. This is also a very well-liked, popular president.” But recent poll data contradict Mitchell's assertion that Bush is a “very well-liked, popular president;” only about half of the country has a “favorable” opinion of the president, and approximately 40 percent classify their opinion as “unfavorable.”

Poll Date Favorable Unfavorable TIME magazine 9/24 49% 37% CBS/New York Times 9/23 46 38 FOX News/Opinion Dynamics 9/23 52 43 Zogby 9/20 55 44 Annenberg Public Policy Center 9/15 52 38 Newsweek 9/11 52 44 ABC News/Washington Post 9/9 51 39 CNN/Gallup/USA Today 9/7 55 44