Bush: Not so strong in Southeast

How's President Bush doing in the "solid South?" Not so well, according to a new poll from Elon University in five Southern states:

A new Elon University Poll shows support for President George W. Bush stands at 43 percent in five Southeastern states, while 52 percent of citizens disapprove or strongly disapprove of the job Bush is doing. Details and other poll results...

The poll, conducted Feb. 20-23 and Feb. 26-March 2 by the Elon University Institute for Politics and Public Affairs, surveyed 1,277 residents in Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia.

Note that this is just a hair above the national average, which after plummeting into the mid-30% approval range last November is now hovering around 40% across the country.

In a related poll, Elon also found that North Carolinians are unsure about what to do with Jim Black, the Democratic House Speaker who is being challenged for campaign finance violations (an issue raised by former Institute director Bob Hall, now with Democracy North Carolina).

When asked how much confidence they have in Black, more than 28 percent said they had "some confidence," nearly 20 percent said "not much confidence" and 18 percent said "no confidence at all." Thirty percent of those surveyed said Black should resign from office, 25 percent said he should remain in office while 35 percent said they didn't know.

(Hat tip to Wampum -- did I mention he's running the Koufax blog awards, in which Facing South is nominated in the categories of Best Series (for our Katrina coverage), Best State or Local Blog, and Most Deserving Wider Recognition.)