President Bush's job-approval rating fell, with 34% of Americans voting him "excellent" or "good," down from 38% in September, according to a new Harris Interactive poll. IN THE POLLS
• Bush's approval rating peaked shortly after the Sept. 11 attacks. It has posted gains off and on since then, but it has never regained that high ground.
Sixty-four percent of U.S. adults now have a negative view of Mr. Bush's job performance, compared with 61% who ranked him "only fair" or "poor" in a similar poll last month. The drop follows a recent Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll that showed the president's job approval rating fell to 39% from 42% earlier in October.
With less than a month to go before the midterm congressional elections, 47% of registered voters said they would vote for a Democratic candidate, compared with 35% who said they would pick a Republican candidate. When asked about recent Capitol Hill scandals involving charges of corruption and sexual improprieties, 64% said they believed those activities were the just the "tip of the iceberg," compared with 25% who believed they were "isolated incidents."
The Harris telephone poll of 1,001 U.S. adults showed a larger majority believe things in the country "have pretty seriously gotten off on the wrong track," at 62% compared with 59% last month. In terms of the most important issues that the U.S. government should address: 29% said the war was most important, while 15% said the economy, 13% said health care and 12% said immigration.
