Bush disapproval rating at record low

WASHINGTON, May 1 (UPI) -- President George W. Bush hit a milestone Thursday with a CNN poll giving him the highest disapproval rating of any U.S. president since World War II.

Seventy percent of respondents to the CNN/Opinion Research poll said they disapprove of the way Bush is doing his job.

"He is more unpopular than Richard Nixon was just before he resigned from the presidency in August 1974," said Bill Schneider, a CNN senior political analyst.

The previous record-holder was Harry Truman. In January 1952, with the Korean War going badly, a Gallup poll found that 67 percent of voters disapproved of him.

The CNN poll indicated that Bush's approval rating is 28 percent, higher than the approval lows recorded by Truman, 22 percent at bottom, and Nixon, 24 percent.

The war in Iraq is also unpopular. Only 39 percent believe the United States is doing well in Iraq, down from almost 50 percent in January, and 30 percent are in favor of the war, while 68 percent oppose it.

Opinion Research surveyed 1,008 adults by telephone between Monday and Wednesday. The margin of error is 3 percent.