More bad news for the White House as the President’s approval rating hits another all-time low.
CNN — Beset with an unpopular war and an American public increasingly less trusting, President Bush faces the lowest approval rating of his presidency, according to a national poll released Monday.
Bush also received his all-time worst marks in three other categories in the CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll. The categories were terrorism, Bush’s trustworthiness and whether the Iraq war was worthwhile.
Even the War on Terror doesn’t seem to be his issue anymore:
Bush, who received high marks after the terrorist attacks of 2001, also rated poorly in the new poll for his policy on terrorism. For the first time, less than half — 48 percent — of those surveyed said they approved of how the president was handling the war on terror. Forty-nine percent said they disapprove.
And Iraq continues to be an issue:
Sixty percent said it was not worth going to war in Iraq, while 38 percent said it was worthwhile. The question was asked of about half of those surveyed and had a margin of error of five percentage points. The results marked a decline in support of seven percentage points from two months earlier.
We are past the point where this can be blamed on bad press or media bias. Clearly, the Administration is in political trouble right now.
One year ago, the President followed up his election victory with a press conference where he proclaimed that he had “political capital” that he intended to use. Today, the issues that were supposed to be the highlight of a second term stand it tatters — Social Security reform, tax reform, the War on Terror. We are less than one year away from the mid-term elections. And, as everyone know, we are less than a year away from the mid-term elections:
In the poll, 56 percent of registered voters said they would be likely to vote against a local candidate supported by Bush, while 34 percent said the opposite.
Only 9 percent said their first choice in next year’s elections would be a Republican who supports Bush on almost every major issue.
Forty-six percent said the country would be better off if Congress were controlled by Democrats, while 34 percent backed a GOP majority.
In very short order we will begin to see Republican politicians in vulnerable seats begin to distance themselves from the White House.
