Bush Approval Continues To Tank

Both Newsweek and Time are releasing new polls that have George W. Bush receiving his lowest job approval since becoming president.

Newsweek

In Katrina's wake, the president's popularity and job-approval ratings have dropped across the board. Only 38 percent of Americans approve of the way Bush is doing his job overall, a record-low for this president in the NEWSWEEK poll. (Fifty-five percent of Americans disapprove of his overall job performance.)

Time

President Bush's overall approval rating has dropped to 42%, his lowest mark since taking office. And while 36% of respondents said they were satisfied with Bush's explanation of why the government was not able to provide relief to hurricane victims sooner, 57% said they were dissatisfied.

In the Newsweek poll, the survey found a majority do not trust Bush to make the right decisions during a crisis;

More critical to President Bush--and the GOP's future as the nation's majority party: most Americans, 52 percent, say they do not trust the president "to make the right decisions during a domestic crisis" (45 percent do). The numbers are exactly the same when the subject is trust of the president to make the right decisions during an international crisis.

And that's not all;

The Katrina effect is evident in how Americans rate the president personally. In every category, the view of the president is at all-time lows for the NEWSWEEK poll. Only 49 percent of Americans now believe the president has strong leadership qualities. The same percentage of registered voters feel that way, 49 percent--down from 63 percent the week before Bush's reelection. Only 42 percent of Americans believe the president cares about people like them; 44 percent of registered voters feel that way--down from 50 percent the week before the election. And only 49 percent of Americans and the same percentage of registered voters believe Bush is intelligent and well-informed--down from 59 percent before the election.

In the Time poll, it was found that the majority of Americans think that spending on Iraq should be diverted to rebuilding the damage caused by Katrina, and that there should be a troop withdrawel to assist with the process;

Six in ten Americans (61%) surveyed think the U.S. should cut back on spending in Iraq to help pay the immense bill for the rebuilding of the areas devastated by Hurricane Katrina, according to the latest TIME magazine poll. A majority (58%) favors the partial withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq to help with the recovery efforts. Democrats (77% favor - 20% oppose) are much more likely to favor this idea than Republicans (39% favor - 59% oppose).

Republicans are so out of touch with America it's scary.