And the hits just keep on coming.
28 percent in the Quinnepiac University poll. 33 percent in the Rasmussen poll. 34 percent in the Bloomberg/L.A. Times poll. Now President Bush has clocked in at 29 percent approval in the latest NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll. A tidbit:
Republican pollster Neil Newhouse, who conducted the survey with Democratic pollster Peter D. Hart, argues that these numbers have crossed below the political "Mendoza line," referring to the feeble .200 batting-average mark in baseball. "With the mood of the country dropping below 20, and the president’s approval below 30, both are candidates for a sort of political Mendoza line," he says.
In the poll, Bush’s approval rating is at just 29 percent. It’s a drop of six points since April, and it represents his lowest mark ever on this question in the NBC/Journal poll.
Democratic pollster Jay Campbell, who works with Hart, attributes this decline to Republicans. Back in April, 75 percent of Republicans approved of Bush’s job performance, compared with 21 percent who disapproved. Now, only 62 percent of Republican[s] approve, versus 32 percent who disapprove.
Unfortunately Congress gets dismally low marks, too. We're in a sour mood, we are (only 19 percent think we're on the right track, a record low). But Americans across the spectrum do agree on one thing by a ten-to-one margin:
Naked bike riding should be legal.
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