Bush and Blair: A tale of two polls

1) From the U.S.: "A new USA Today/Gallup poll finds 37% of Americans approving of the way Bush is handling his job as president and 59% disapproving." Bush's approval rating "seems to have reached a plateau in the 37% to 40% range since mid-June".

2) From the U.K.: "Britain should take a much more robust and independent approach to the United States, according to a Guardian/ICM poll published today, which finds strong public opposition to Tony Blair's close working relationship with President Bush... Just 30% think the prime minister has got the relationship about right, against 63% saying he has tied Britain too closely to the US."

The message: Bush is unpopular at home and Blair, also unpopular at home, should distance himself from him. Were Blair to do so, would his own popularity increase? Quite likely -- despite a variety of domestic problems that along with Iraq and his relationship with Bush have brought him down.

Kevin Drum: "Isn't that amazing? Blair's longtime subservience to Bush coupled with his apparent inability to influence U.S. policy in any way (the supposed justification for tagging along with Bush) has never been more apparent, and yet 30% of the country still thinks Blair's relationship with Bush is 'about right.' I wonder what it would take to convince them otherwise?"

I suspect it would take something along the lines of a same-sex liaison of some kind to convince them that the two leaders are getting a little too close for political comfort. Or perhaps their shell of ignorance is simply impenetrable.