Stubbornness

A bare majority of Alabama's likely voters still approve of President Bush's job performance, even though most of them disapprove of the job he's done with the Iraq war and a sizable plurality thinks the nation is headed in the wrong direction, according to a recent poll by the Capital Survey Research Center.

Bush's numbers are still higher in Alabama than in most other places, but the poll still reveals a notable erosion of support in a state that's voted for the GOP in every presidential election since 1980 and that Bush carried by a 25-point margin last year. As poll director Gerald Johnson said, "If the Democrats had a position or positions or issues that would attract voters, voters are in a position to be attracted."