Bush at 37 percent

...in Indiana!

Indiana voted twice to elect George W. Bush to the White House, but an Indianapolis Star poll indicates more than half of Hoosiers now disapprove of the job he's doing as president.

Only 37 percent of those surveyed last week think Bush is doing a good job as president, while 56 percent disapprove.

[...]

How bad are the results for Bush? For a Republican in a red state like Indiana, very bad. The president's approval rating has dropped 18 points in Indiana since March 2005.

The president's approval rating equals the 37 percent approval rating Hoosiers gave President Bill Clinton, a Democrat, back in August 1994. And the rating mirrors the national view of the president. A recent CNN/USA Today/Gallup Poll showed the president's approval rating nationwide at 38 percent.

Now remember, this is Indidana, one of the reddest states in the country and even in that state, Bush's poll numbers are in the toilet. Even his poll numbers on Iraq are a joke.

45% of Hoosiers 35 to 54 approve of the way Bush is handling the situation in Iraq, but only 29 percent of those 65 and older do so.

Sound the alarm bells!

Robert Schmuhl, a professor of American studies at the University of Notre Dame, called the poll numbers a "very revealing" portrait of a presidency gone awry.

"Since his inauguration to the second term, we have seen something akin to a reverse Midas touch," in which everything Bush handles turns not to gold, but lead, Schmuhl said.

Schmuhl cited the president's failed attempt to remake Social Security, the disastrous response to Hurricane Katrina, the ongoing war in Iraq, the failed Supreme Court nomination of Harriet Miers and, most recently, the ports controversy.
"These numbers should be troubling to Republicans," Schmuhl said.