In a December 5 "Political Memo" titled “Everyone Knows This Senator, and for 2008, That May Be Precisely the Trouble,” New York Times reporter Raymond Hernandez cited Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton's (D-NY) negative poll ratings to assert that “she remains an extremely polarizing figure who is unable to sway these voters to her side.” But Hernandez's report was misleading; President Bush, another politician “everyone knows,” was recently reelected to the nation's highest office with nearly identical negative ratings.

Hernandez reported: “Nationally, her [Clinton's] standing is worse, even as her aides prepare for what is emerging as a possible bid for president in 2008. Roughly 4 of 10 Americans disapprove of her, according to a recent poll by the Marist College Institute for Public Opinion.” Marist found that 54 percent viewed Clinton favorably and 43 percent viewed her unfavorably, according to Hearst Newspapers.

But when Bush won reelection on November 2, his negative ratings were almost identical to the senator's. According to a CBS News/New York Times poll conducted October 28-30, 48 percent of Americans viewed Bush favorably and 42 percent viewed him unfavorably. A Newsweek poll conducted October 14-15 (its most recent poll prior to the election) showed him with a 51 percent favorable rating and a 45 percent unfavorable rating. A CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll conducted October 29-31 found that 51 percent of Americans viewed Bush favorably and 46 percent viewed him unfavorably.

In addition, a Marist poll released November 2 showed that 49 percent of those polled disapproved of Bush's performance as president.