Bush Approval Rating Hits New Low: 31%

More than two-thirds of Americans now think George W. Bush is doing a poor job, according to a new poll that pegged his approval rate at 31%—a new low. The director of the CNN poll noted that the hefty 40-point drop in Bush's approval ratings since the start of the Iraq war mirrors the plunge in Lyndon Johnson's popularity as the war in Vietnam dragged on.

Bush's low, on the fifth anniversary of the start of the Iraq war, is still higher than some of his predecessor's approval rates—his father's fell to 29% in July 1992 and Harry Truman's plunged to a woeful 22% in the last year of his presidency. "Lame-duck presidents presiding over unpopular wars or struggling economies have gotten low approval ratings in the past," an analyst said. (More approval ratings stories.)