39% !!!!!!!????????? classic...ya'll texans should be proud!!! NOT!!!hahaha

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Bush Job Approval Rating Lowest Ever


WASHINGTON -- Beset by political and economic troubles at home and a difficult war in Iraq, President Bush's job approval rating has slipped to 39 percent, the lowest measure of his presidency, according to a USA Today/CNN/Gallup Poll.

Bush, whose approval rating hit 55 percent shortly after he was re-elected last November, has been below 50 percent approval since May. But this marks the first time he has fallen below 40 percent, a level that until now had been his floor.

Bush hit 40 percent, his previous low, twice: in mid-August - when Cindy Sheehan, the mother of a soldier killed in Iraq, began an anti-war vigil on the road to the president's Crawford, Texas, ranch - and again in mid-September, when he was under fire for a slow federal response to Hurricane Katrina.

Analysts attribute the latest erosion to multiple factors:


The continued problems of managing the recovery from Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.


The possible indictment of top White House aides in a grand jury inquiry into the leaking of CIA agent Valerie Plame's identity.


The furor among some conservatives over Bush's nomination of White House counsel Harriet Miers to the Supreme Court.


High gasoline prices.


Public perception of a lack of progress in stabilizing Iraq.

"It's the cumulative effect of a thousand little cuts, or big cuts, depending who is looking at it," says Stephen Hess, a presidential scholar at the Brookings Institution, a Washington think tank.

Hess says that without strong public backing, Bush's political hand is considerably weakened as he tries to push his agenda through Congress and help Republicans maintain control of the House and Senate in the 2006 elections.

Tom Edmonds, a Republican media consultant, says many Bush backers are worried that given the extent of his problems, the president will not be able to improve his poll standings. "This White House is starting to look like a ship at sea with no rudder," Edmonds says.

Bush's fall in public approval, down from 45 percent in late September, is largely due to a drop in support among independents and Democrats. Bush's approval among independents declined to 32 percent from 37 percent since the last USA Today/CNN/Gallup Poll taken Sept. 26-28. Approval among Democrats fell to 8 percent from 15 percent in that period.

Hess says that loss among independents "bodes ill" for Republicans in the 2006 elections.

However, Bush's approval among his Republican base continues to hold steady. It was 85 percent in the previous poll and 84 percent now. That steady GOP support is preventing him from falling lower. How long that GOP base holds remains a key question, Edmonds says.