Republican National Committee Chairman Ed Gillespie said about President Bush:
 

“People across the county appreciate his [President Bush] strong, principled leadership and his message.” (Ed Gillespie, RNC Chair, Washington Times, 10/2/03)

However, according to national polls:
 

• 54% of Americans believe that President Bush did not sufficiently plan for the post-war situation in Iraq and does not have a plan to win the peace and bring the troops home. (Democracy Corps, 10/02/03)

• 53% of Americans do not trust what President Bush is saying about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. (Democracy Corps, 10/02/03)

• 72% of Americans believe that someone in the White House leaked information that disclosed the identity of a CIA agent.  (Washington Post-ABC News poll, 9/30/03)

• 55% of Americans disapprove of how Bush is handling the economy. (Newsweek, 9/25-26/03)

• 48% believe President Bush is taking the U.S. in the wrong direction, compared to 42%. (Zogby, 9/22-24/03)

• 73% of Americans describe the state of economy as not good or poor. (ABC News/Money Magazine, 9/28/03)

Schakowsky said, “Under President Bush’s ‘principled leadership’, Americans have lost jobs and loved ones.  President Bush has bankrupted our country by spending hundreds of billions of dollars on tax cuts for the rich and an unwise and unnecessary war in Iraq.”