President Bush's Poll Numbers Are Going From Bad to Worse

President Bush is spending the weekend at his Texas ranch. But there's no escape from bad news in the ratings department.

The latest Associated Press-Ipsos poll finds that only 28 percent of Americans approve of the job Bush is doing, a new low. He was at 30 percent last month. The pollsters said one big reason is deepening voter dissatisfaction with the economy, which is in a serious downturn.

Even Republicans are becoming disenchanted with the president, with only 60 percent endorsing his job performance—his weakest showing yet among members of his own party. Only 17 percent of independents and 7 percent of Democrats said he was doing a good job.

That follows a survey of 109 professional historians that delivered yet another downer to the White House. History News Network found that 98 percent rated the Bush presidency a failure and only 2 percent saw it as a success.

Even more deflating, more than 61 percent of the historians said the current presidency is the worst in American history. In 2004, only 11.6 percent of the historians questioned rated Bush's presidency in last place. (A report on the 10 earlier worst presidents is here).

White House aides say Bush doesn't care about the polls. He will do what he feels is right and is confident that history will eventually vindicate him even if it takes many decades, they say.

—Kenneth T. Walsh