President Bush has talked a lot about being a modern-day Harry Truman: a president who makes tough but unpopular decisions that will be appreciated by history, if not by his American contemporaries.
Well, now, Bush has passed Truman to set an ignominious record. He has become the president with the longest consecutive stretch of job-approval ratings below 50 percent since scientific public opinion polling was invented.
At 39 months, Bush passed Truman, who was on the wrong side of the populace for the last 38 months of his presidency.
With the 43rd president hovering around the 30 percent mark for job approval, it seems highly unlikely that he will crack the 50 percent level for the final nine months of his second term.
In the new poll, Bush's approval rate stood at 33 percent, just 1 percent age point above his all-time low. The President's approval rating has been relatively stable in ABC/Post polling; he hasn't topped 36 percent since November 2006.
Seventy percent of Americans give Bush a thumbs-down for his handling of the economy -- a record. His rating for handling Iraq isn't much better: 33 percent like it but 65 percent do not.
Bush's critics are far more passionate than his supporters. The number of people who strongly disapprove of Bush is three times the number who strongly approve.
Only 7 percent of Democrats approve of Bush's performance, making his presidency the most politically polarized since the advent of polling. (Only Bill Clinton and Ronald Reagan come close, according to ABC stats.)
His rating specifically on handling the war in Iraq is equally poor -- 33 percent approve, 65 percent disapprove -- and on the economy it's even worse, with a record 70 percent disapproval.
According to ABC News polling director Gary Langer, Bush last hit 50 percent popularity in an ABC News/Washington Post poll on Jan. 16, 2005 - four days before his second inauguration.
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