31% (NYTimes/CBS)

The Chimp in Winter (Now a Spring of Discontent)

On the road to the Roaring 20s! He's dropped 2 points in the last week and 6 points in a month to just 31 percent--suffice it to say, that's a new historic low for the President in this poll. Here's some more from the NYTimes:

Mr. Bush's approval rating for his management of foreign policy, Iraq and the economy have fallen to the lowest levels of his presidency. He drew poor marks on the specific issues that have been at the top of the national agenda in recent months — in particular, immigration and gas prices — underscoring the difficulty the administration faces in reversing its political fortunes.

[...]

Mr. Bush's overall job approval rating hit another new low, 31 percent, tying the low point of his father, George H. W. Bush, in July 1992, four months before the elder Mr. Bush lost his bid for a second term to Bill Clinton. That is the third lowest approval rating of any president in 50 years; only Richard M. Nixon and Jimmy Carter were viewed less favorably.

[...]

The Times/CBS News poll contained few if any bright notes for Mr. Bush and the Republican Party; it reflected a starkly pessimistic view of the country by Americans and, six months before the midterm election, offered a harsh assessment of the policies and performance of the president and Congress.

Although the composition of Congressional districts will make it hard for the Democrats to recapture control of Capitol Hill in the fall, the poll suggested that the trend is moving in their direction. Just 23 percent said they approve of the job Congress is doing, down from 29 percent in January. That is about the same level of support for Congress as in the fall of 1994, when Republicans seized control of the House.

Americans said that Democrats would do a better job dealing with Iraq, gas prices, immigration, taxes, prescription drug and civil liberties. Fifty percent said Democrats come closer than Republicans in sharing their moral values. A majority said Republican members of Congress were more likely to be financially corrupt than a Democratic member of Congress, suggesting that Democrats might be making headway in their efforts to portray Republicans as having created a "culture of corruption" in Washington.

But will this faze W? Not likely, according to the interview he had with the German newspaper, Bild--here's a bit from the White House transcript:

And so --the other thing I want you to know about me is that no matter how pressurized it may seem, I'm not changing what I believe. Now, I may change tactics, but I'm not going to change my core beliefs -- a belief that freedom is universal, or the belief that private markets work, a belief in ownership -- when p [sic] own something, society is better off; a belief that there's a role for government, but it's limited in nature. And I'm not changing. I don't care whether they like me at the cocktail parties, or not. I want to be able to leave this office with my integrity intact.

You're doing a heckuva job.