POLL: Bush Job Approval Hits New Low

Saturday, May 15, 2004

(10:19 PM ET)

By Will Lester

Associated Press Writer

``People aren't running out of the Bush column, but his support is softening up. Before people are going to jump over to Kerry, they begin to express doubts about Bush. I think that's what we're seeing.''
-- Larry Hugick, director of the Newsweek poll for Princeton Survey Research Associates

President Bush waves after returning on Marine One helicopter to the South Lawn of the White House Friday, May 14, 2004, in Washington.

Image Credit: Pablo Martinez Monsivais -- AP

PHOENIX -- AP
President Bush's job approval ratings are hitting the lowest levels of his tenure as problems in Iraq crowd out other issues for voters, public opinion specialists say.

A Newsweek poll released Saturday put Bush's overall job approval at 42 percent, the lowest yet in that poll. Other recent survey have rated Bush in the mid-40s.

``Iraq is sucking the life out of other issue deliberations among the voters in the campaign,'' said political scientist Douglas Strand of the University of California-Berkeley.

Strand and Merrill Shanks, also a political scientist at the school, have conducted public opinion research on how various issues are affecting the campaign.

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2004 © The Associated Press.

Dan