Bush’s Iraq and Overall Job Ratings at New Lows

Public approval of President Bush’s handling of Iraq has slipped to a new low, along with his overall job rating, after the slayings of four U.S. contractors last week in Fallouja, a poll released Monday shows.

Still, a majority supports his decision to use military force in Iraq, according to the poll by the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press.

Forty percent approve of the way Bush is handling Iraq and 53% disapprove, the poll found. That’s down from 60% who approved in mid-January.

Bush’s overall job approval is at 43%, a low point for his presidency and down from 56% in mid-January. In the new survey, 47% disapproved of Bush’s job performance. His job approval had soared to 90% after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, and remained in the 70s for almost a year.

Public support for the decision to use military force in Iraq has not changed. The poll found that 57% think the United States made the right decision in that regard, about the same as in early February.

“People are sticking to their guns on whether this was the right decision, but they’re beginning to feel a little more wary about how long our troops are exposed to these dangers,” said Andrew Kohut, director of the Pew Research Center. “While they think this was the right thing to do, they don’t think Bush is handling it very well.”

Kohut suggested that the drop in Bush’s overall approval rating might be the result of a combination of foreign and domestic concerns, including high gasoline prices.

Kohut said the effect of Friday’s report of more than 300,000 new jobs might not yet be reflected in polls.

The survey of 790 adults, taken Thursday through Sunday, has a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points.