Scare-Talk (2006) Makes Several Excellent

¶ … scare-talk (2006) makes several excellent points regarding how the Republican Party in the United States is making the most of the wide differences in perception of which political party is most adept at anticipating and thwarting terrorist attacks. The article brings up a startling statistic from the latest Gallup/USA Today poll that says the majority of the voting public perceives Republicans will do a far better job than Democrats fighting terrorism (68% - 17%). This is the widest gulf of any of the issues covered in the poll, and point to the fact that for the November 7th Congressional and Senate elections, the most likely political platform the Republicans will rely on is building on the perception of being able to anticipate, combat, and alleviate terrorist attacks. In the same poll, President Bush's approval rating jumped from 31% to 44% also as a result of stressing victories in the war on terror. The drop in U.S. gas prices throughout September has also helped the President's approval rating.

While the Republicans are clearly working their advantage of messaging that they are tougher on terrorism than Democrats, when it comes to the handling of the war in Iraq, their impressive gains in polls are erased with the majority of voters seeing Democrats as more capable of managing the war (60%) versus Republicans (23%).

Clearly for the Republicans,. The more media weight and coverage they can put on terror, the higher the likelihood of success in both the House of Representatives and Senate races.

November 7th of this year is a very significant election for both parties, as it is widely considered on that will dictate how effective the next President will be in getting their policies accomplished. With every seat in the House of Representatives up for re-election and a third of all seats in the Senate, the Democrats are predicting they will control either one or both houses of Congress after the November 7th election. Recent poll results substantiate this optimism on the part of the Democrats, with a margin of 51% to 42% favoring the Democratic candidates, in aggregate, for all open seats. The challenge for the Democrats however is in turning the Iraq war into a divisive issue and neutralizing the strong claims of being tougher on terrorism that the Republicans have honed into a strong advantage. Vice President Dick Cheney speaks of the terrorists gaining control of a Middle Eastern nation and eventually conquering smaller nations until a terrorist regime spreads from Spain to Indonesia. Both Vice President Cheney and President Bush have successfully communicated the urgency and depth of terrorist threats to the U.S., and to the extent this message permeates the American voters' priorities has a direct bearing on the success or failure of their political party on November 7th at the polls.