Bush has jumped 5% in the polls from the mid 40s to 50% over the past week according to Rasmussen reports. The last time the President was this high was just after the January elections in Iraq last year.

There hasn't been any particularly good news for the President this past week except that the Alito nomination is going to be a confirmation tomorrow, but that really shouldn't affect his polling numbers all that much.

I'll straightup admit that I don't have a clue, but if I'm guessing, I figure that the Democrats jumped the shark on Alito and damaged their credibility (perhaps fatally? We can only hope...). Such sudden changes in people's views usually come when they have an epiphany--my husband is cheating on me, the coworker I consider a friend is undermining me, or something else that turns your perceptions around on a dime.

The Democrats had such a moment with the 16 words in the SoTU speech (merited or not).

Perhaps the Alito hearings have provided such a moment for the Democrats, but its hard for me to tell because the Crats had no credibility with me to begin with.