I read that Bush has interpreted his re-election as support for his whole re-election platform. However,

The fact is, as anyone who stayed up for election night knows, Bush would not serve a second term if 70,000 of his supporters had voted for his opponent. The exit polls tell us that the reason they did not was not because of his policies in Iraq, the jobs that have been produced by his tax cuts, or his promise to privatize a portion of Social Security. Less than half the voters leaving Ohio polling places told pollsters that the country was headed in the right direction. By a 52 to 43 percent margin, they felt the war in Iraq was not going well. Fifty-three percent said that the war had not improved the long-term security of the United States. On the economic front, only 31 percent said that they were better off than when Bush became president and 55 percent said that the job situation in their area was worse than it had been four years ago, while only 17 percent said it was better.

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