On June 7, 2005, I posted the following item on this weblog…
George W. Bush's approval rating is now a full twenty points lower than Bill Clinton's was on the day he was impeached.
At the time, many e-mailers found that stunning and unlikely and wrote to ask how I figured that because it couldn't possibly be so. I replied to all with citations that Bush's approval rating was then at 48%. Clinton's, on the day he was impeached, varied between 68% and 73%.
On March 24, 2006, I noted that the gap was now thirty points. Bush was at 38%.
On April 27, 2007, I noted that the gap was at forty points. Bush was at 28%.
I thought he couldn't go much lower than that; that we wouldn't see forty-five. There are people in this world — Democrats and Republicans — who wouldn't change their minds about the guy they backed if he confessed to masterminding 9/11. You also have a lot of people, I suspect, who think Bush has been a terrible prez but aren't going to say that to a pollster. They still believe in an agenda they think or thought he represented — banning abortions, slashing taxes, being "tough" with our enemies, etc. — and they're afraid that to not support Bush now is to give a leg up to those with the opposing wishlist.
Still, Bush is at 25% in the latest CBS poll (with 67% disapproval) and today, we have the release of a couple of Senate reports that prompt the headline, "Senate committee: Bush knew Iraq claims weren't true." True, it's largely the Democrats on the Senate Select Intelligence Committee saying that with the G.O.P. members dissenting…but that oughta be good for another point off Bush's score. And then at some point, McCain's going to have to ratchet up his criticisms of Bush to try and convince voters he's not running for George's third term…
So I'm thinking we will get to 45 points below Clinton's impeachment numbers in at least a couple of the major polls. Heck, we might even see fifty.