War Room - Salon.com

Monday, Nov 14, 2005 09:18 EST

The president's days of malaise

A new poll has Bush's approval rating at a record low 36 percent.

By Tim Grieve

Another day, another round of bad poll numbers for the president: A new Newsweek poll has George W. Bush's approval rating down to 36 percent.

That's a record low for Bush's presidency, and it matches the worst number that Bill Clinton ever got. The good news for Bush? He's still a few ticks better off than his father was in 1992, and he's not quite in the territory that either Jimmy Carter or Richard Nixon occupied during their darkest days. Carter's approval rating hit 28 percent in the summer of 1979, and Nixon's bottomed out at 24 percent in August 1974.

Of course, Nixon resigned in August 1974. Bush still has 1,162 days to go.