Americans, Bleakest View Of Country's Direction In 23 Years.

Source: CBS News

People haven't been this turned off about the state of the union since the Iran Contra scandal era.

Ouch....

Only 31% of those polled approve of Mr. Bush's job performance; 68% believe the United States is worse off today than it was before Bush became president.

There is also concern that Mr. Bush is spending too much time on foreign policy issues: 55% think so. Also, on the issues that are most important to Americans, Iraq and gas prices, Bush's ratings have dropped.

On handling the issue of rising gas prices, Bush's performance rating dropped four percentage points from what it was a month ago (from 17% to 13%).

With the Iraq war, Bush's approval rating dropped one percentage point (from 30% to 29%) since last month. Similarly, only 30% of poll respondents said they have some degree of confidence Bush will be able to end the war successfully. The poll also reveals that 56% of those polled said that United States should have stayed out of Iraq; this number is the highest it's been since the start of the war.

The only area where Bush's approval rating is not at an all-time low is fighting terror: approval is at 46%.

Congressional Republicans get an eviscerating review in this poll. The GOP gets a favorability rating of 37%, exactly 20 percentage points lower than where it was in 1994. Inversely, Democrats in Congress had a favorability rating increase of 11 percentage points over what it was in 1994.

One would think impeachment proceedings against Shrub would be a slam dunk by now.

Tags: [America at its worse for the first time in 23 years], [31% approve of Mr. Bush's job performance], [Bush at 31%], [Bush's approval rating at 31%], [Bush at all-time low], [68% believe the United States is worse off today than it was before Bush became president], [55% think Bush is spending too much time on foreign policy issues], [issue of rising gas prices forces Bush to 13%], [29% in support of Iraq War], [30% of poll respondents said they have some degree of confidence Bush will be able to end the war successfully], [56% of those polled said that United States should have stayed out of Iraq], [GOP gets a favorability rating of 37%]