WASHINGTON, April 3 (UPI) -- A Washington Post poll suggests President Bush is shedding much of his image as a "compassionate conservative," the newspaper said in its Sunday editions.
The Post poll found 49 percent of Americans saying he governs in a compassionate way, down from February of last year when a CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll found 64 percent regarded the president as compassionate.
Those who believe Bush cares most about serving upper-income people are up to 44 percent, an increase from 31 percent in September 1999.
Whether the image shift will prove to be a problem for Bush depends on what bloc of voters is decisive in November, the newspaper said.
Some political strategists see the Bush campaign gambling that it can win largely by mobilizing core Republican voters instead of mainly addressing moderate swing voters for whom the theme of compassion was assumed to be more attractive.
