40% (Pew)

The Chimp in Winter

State of the Union bounce in the polls? I don't think so (via Pew Research Center; hat tip to AmericaBlog):

The latest national survey by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press, conducted Feb. 1-5 among 1,502 Americans, finds that President Bush received no bounce from his Jan. 31 State of the Union address. Bush's approval rating stands at 40% ­ largely unchanged over the past month. Interest in Bush's speech was fairly modest ­ about as many paid very close attention to the recent layoffs at the Ford Motor Co. (25%) as to the State of the Union (24%). The public continues to take a mixed view of Bush's performance on issues ­ generally positive on terrorism (53% approval) but negative on virtually every domestic issue. In two key areas, health care and the deficit, Bush's ratings have declined markedly over the past year, to below 30% on each issue.

But on the issue of warrantless wiretapping, the public seems to be moving the BushCo way--and check out the gains from liberal Democrats:

But the president appears to be making headway with his defense of the government's authority to conduct warrantless wiretaps of suspected terrorists. By 54%-43%, the public believes it is generally right for the government to monitor communications of Americans suspected of having terrorist ties without first obtaining permission from the courts.

[...]

The revelation that President Bush authorized the NSA to eavesdrop on telephone communications without a court warrant has caused no surge in public concern about civil liberties. In fact, there are signs that the president has achieved at least some success over the past month in persuading the public that his policies are the right ones for the country.

By a 50% to 33% margin, more Americans are concerned that the government hasn't yet gone far enough in protecting the country against terrorism than are concerned that the government has gone too far in restricting civil liberties.