Bush's Job Approval Hits New Low

This is from a CBS News Poll:

(CBS) Tempers cooled a bit in Washington today after the partisan meltdown that brought Senate business to a halt Tuesday.

Even so, neither Congress nor the White House will find much in a new CBS News poll to put them in a better humor. President Bush's job approval has reached the lowest level yet. Only 35 percent approve of the job he's doing.

Congress is rated even lower. Only 34 percent approve of its work.

Vice President Cheney has never been as popular as the president, but his favorable rating is down nine points this year to just 19 percent.

The plunge in poll numbers is another dose of bad news for a White House mired in it. The only recent president lower at this point in their second term was Richard Nixon.

According to the poll, 35 percent approve the job Bush is doing, while 57 percent disapprove of the job Bush is doing. There's some interesting side numbers in this poll. According to CBS News:

77 percent of Republicans approve of his job performance, and the President retains the support of some of his key constituencies. 61 percent of white evangelicals approve of the job he is doing (up from 55 percent a month ago), as do 54 percent of conservatives.

Democrats give the President widespread disapproval, and he gets little support from those Americans who profess no strong ties to either side of the ideological divide. Only 31 percent of Independents and 30 percent of moderates now approve of the job he is doing (nearly the same as a month ago).

President Bush is getting down to his basic core constituents. The only people left supporting him are the Republicans, conservatives, and the white evangelicals. He still has support of 30 percent each of the moderates and independents, but how long will that number last if the Iraq war turns to the worst? Also remember, Scooter Libby will be arranged in court tomorrow for his role in the Valerie Plame leak. Once Libby's trial gets underway, you can bet the lawyers will be calling top White House officials to testify--starting with Dick Cheney and Karl Rove. Interestingly, the poll shows the American public starting to take a closer look at the Valerie Plame scandal:

The indictments handed down last week against former Vice-Presidential Chief of Staff I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby included perjury — but they did not charge Libby or anyone else with actually leaking the name of agent Valerie Plame. However, six in ten Americans believe that someone in the Bush Administration did leak her name. This is up from July, when 52 percent thought so. One-quarter today, as in July, aren't sure.

Many Americans will withhold judgment on Scooter Libby for now: 54 percent say they can't tell now if they think the charges against Libby are true or not. Of those with an opinion, the overwhelming number thinks the charges against him are probably true.

Nearly two-thirds of Americans – 64 percent - say they have heard at least something about the investigation, including 27 percent who have heard a lot about it and 37 percent who have heard some. Last July, 19 percent had heard a lot about it. Still, even after Friday's indictments, more than a third say they've heard little or nothing about the investigation.

White House ubber-advisor Karl Rove is still under the American public's radar screen, where "half says they don't know if Rove did anything wrong or not."

The Republicans are already starting to spin this poll. According to CBS News:

"The president I think has bottomed out. I think last week was the bottom," said Ken Duberstein, who worked in the team that Ronald Reagan brought in to help recover from the Iran-Contra scandal. Duberstein wrote a prescription for change in today's New York Times.

"I think that they need to bring in some new blood, new blood that would give the president differing opinions, not someone who has been burned out for four or five years, but somebody who has a fresh perspective," he said.

Tuesday's shutdown of the Senate shows the political danger of presidential drift. Democrats sat back and watched for an opening – then moved right in.

The battle is over momentum heading into an election year. The White House lost it, the Democrats want it, and Republicans in Congress are desperate to hang on to whatever threads are left.

"The progress is there and the momentum is there and we're going to deliver for the American people," said Sen. Bill Frist, R-Tenn. "I see signs of obstruction around here all the time, too much for me, but we're just going to try to stay above it."
This week's Alito Supreme Court nomination and the president's bird flu speech were the first steps in a turnaround, Duberstein said, but the White House still needs to lose the "bunker" mentality and let in new ideas.

"This country can't afford three years of drift and neither can the world," Duberstein said. "The president of the United States of America has to be at the top of his game."

So far, there's no indication the president is considering any of the outside advice to shake up the White House. But if he doesn't soon find his footing, suggestions for change will quickly become demands.