Bush hits a new low in polls for job approval

WASHINGTON — President Bush's job-approval rating has sunk to 45 percent, the worst of his presidency, amid public opposition at his intervention in the Terri Schiavo case and growing concern over gasoline prices.

The 45 percent rating is a far cry from his record 90 percent approval after the Sept. 11 attacks, but it's still well above the low marks scored by most recent presidents.

Except for a slight bounce after the Jan. 30 Iraqi elections, Bush's job-approval rating has been stuck in the high 40s to low 50s since early 2004. The Gallup polling organization tests the president's standing almost weekly by asking voters if they "approve or disapprove of the way George W. Bush is handling his job."

Pollsters attributed the president's lackluster showing to economic worries, high fuel prices and a public backlash against his entry into the Schiavo case. The CNN/USA Today/Gallup nationwide survey of 1,001 adults — the margin of error is plus or minus 3 percentage points — was conducted Monday through Wednesday, after Bush signed legislation that gave federal courts a chance to decide whether Schiavo should be allowed to die. Federal courts have refused to intervene.

Polls showed that big majorities of Americans — 70 to 82 percent — opposed the intervention by Bush and Congress.

But the Schiavo case isn't Bush's only political problem.

"The public's increasingly dismal views about the economy, and about the way things are going in general, could also be factors in Bush's lower approval rating," a Gallup analysis said. "Even more dramatic is the greater pessimism about the future of the nation's economy."

Nearly 60 percent of Americans believe the economy is worsening, compared with one-third who think it's improving. About 32 percent think economic conditions are good or excellent, compared with 41 percent who felt that way at the start of the year.

Economic jitters seem directly related to rising gas prices. That ranked at the top of concerns, along with unemployment and low wages.

Only 5 percent mentioned fuel prices last month, before average retail prices surged sharply above $2 a gallon nationally.

Even at his current low point, Bush outscores every other recent president's low point since John Kennedy, who bottomed out with a 56 percent approval rating. Richard Nixon holds the modern record for the lowest approval rating — 24 percent during the Watergate scandal.