Bullish Bush Bashing

This morning’s headline story in my favorite newspaper, the New York Times, reports the results of the latest Times/CBS opinion poll. The headline reads “Bush’s support on Major Issues Tumbles in Poll”.

Of course the Times takes every possible opportunity bash Bush so by itself this story is not significant. But remember that the news media, NYT included, try to give their readers what their readers want to read or hear. In other words the media make their money by catering to their audience’s preconceptions.

The Times’ audience is this nations’ elite. So I think we can fairly conclude that elite opinion takes an active dislike to President Bush (no surprise here!). Moreover, to the extent that the poll fairly represents public opinion, it is evidence that the public is growing more distressed about the political leadership in the US.

This is important from a contrary opinion point of view. When opinion leaders show contempt for political leaders the nations’ emotional cycle is in a depressed phase. The same is true when the public takes a dim view of their political leaders’ performance. And this emotional upset shows up in financial markets.

I think that this headline is more evidence that the stock market is quite a bit below the level of its ultimate top. When this bull market ends I think we shall see public opinion turn more positive towards our political leaders and we shall also see this shift reflected in the New York Times headlines.