Back to September 10 For Bush

It looks more and more like we have returned to September 10, 2001 in our perceptions of George Bush. There’s more bad poll numbers , first from the Wall Street Journal/NBC News Poll:

The president’s overall approval has fallen to a record-low for Mr. Bush of 40%, reflecting a shrunken core of base supporters. That promises to have repercussions for his domestic agenda on issues like Social Security, taxes and immigration, and leaves Mr. Bush with a steeper challenge on his most significant second-term priority: using American power and resources to transform Iraq and the broader Middle East.

A plurality of Americans has favored reducing troop levels in Iraq for most of the year. Now, 55% favor bringing soldiers home, while just 36% back Mr. Bush’s position that current levels should be maintained to help secure peace and stability.

From The New York Times/CBS Poll:

For the first time, just half of Americans approve of Mr. Bush’s handling of terrorism, which has been his most consistent strength since he scored 90 percent approval ratings in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 attacks. More than 6 in 10 now say that he does not share their priorities for the country, 10 percentage points worse than on the eve of his re-election last fall, while barely half say he has strong qualities of leadership, about the same as said so at the early low-ebb of his presidency in the summer of 2001.