(06-10) 06:32 PDT WASHINGTON, (AP) --


As the war in Iraq drags on, President Bush's job approval and the
public's confidence in the direction he's taking the nation are at
their lowest levels since The Associated Press-Ipsos poll began in
December 2003.


About one-third of adults, 35 percent, said they think the country is
headed in the right direction, while 43 percent said they approve of
the job being done by Bush. Just 41 percent say they support his
handling of the war, also a low-water mark.


"There's a bad mood in the country, people are out of sorts," said
presidential scholar and senior fellow at the Brookings Institution
Charles Jones, who lives near Charlottesville, Va. "Iraq news is daily
bad news. The election in Iraq helped some, and the formation of the
government helped some, but dead bodies trump the more positive news."


California retiree Carol Harvie was quick to mention Iraq when asked
about how Bush was doing his job.


"I don't think he's read his history enough about different countries
and foreign affairs," said Harvie, a political independent who lives
near San Diego, a region with several military bases. "Anything they
try to do in Iraq has spelled trouble. I think he bit off more than he
can chew."


Car bombings and attacks by insurgents killed 80 U.S. troops and more
than 700 Iraqis last month and Pentagon officials acknowledge the level
of violence is about the same as a year ago, when they were forced to
scrap a plan to substantially reduce the U.S. troop presence in Iraq.


Bush administration officials say the key to getting U.S. forces out of
Iraq is training Iraqis to provide their own security.


While Bush has gotten generally low scores for his handling of domestic
issues for many months, most Americans have been supportive of his
foreign policy. Not any more.


The poll conducted for AP by Ipsos found 45 percent support Bush's
foreign policy, down from 52 percent in March.


Bush's popularity reached its zenith shortly after the terror attacks
on Sept. 11, 2001, when various polls found nearly 90 percent approved
of the job he was doing. It was close to 80 percent when Ipsos started
tracking attitudes about Bush at the start of 2002, and was just over
50 percent when the AP-Ipsos poll was started in December 2003.


But since winning re-election last November, Bush has seen his poll
numbers sag.


Bush, who faces no more elections, has responded to past dips in the
polls by saying, "You can find them going up and you can find them
going down."


David Fultz, a Republican from Venice, Fla., is among those who are
sticking with the president.


"In terms of where we're going in the future, President Bush is laying
out a plan," said Fultz, an assistant principal at a middle school.
"When it's all said and done, we'll be where we want to be. We need to
help establish democracy in the Middle East."


Support for Bush's handling of domestic issues remained in the high 30s
and low 40s in the latest AP-Ipsos poll.


Thirty-seven percent support Bush's handling of Social Security, while
59 percent disapprove. Those numbers haven't budged after more than
four months of the president traveling the country to sell his plan to
create private accounts in Social Security.


Support for his handling of the economy was at 43 percent.


Congress gets even lower grades than Bush, a potentially troubling
development for those seeking re-election next year.


Only about three in 10 polled said they approve of the job being done
by Congress, while 64 percent disapprove.


"Presidents who are low in the polls have a hard time getting Congress
to go along with them," said Charles Franklin, a political scientist at
the University of Wisconsin-Madison. "He has to persuade the people in
Congress to follow his legislative agenda and they're all worried about
2006."


The AP-Ipsos poll of 1,001 adults was taken June 6-8 and has a margin
of sampling error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.

If it is Bad for Bush,
It is Good for the United States.



If it's bad for Kraus
then, Hell Kraus, try another gay bar.
You'll eventually find someone who likes little guys.