Below the Radar

Bush drops 8 points in one week...

According to the latest CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll, conducted from Feb. 7-10, Bush's approval rating stands at 49 percent, which is dismal for a just-reelected president. By comparison, during the first February of their second term, the most recently re-elected presidents all boasted approval ratings in the 60s'; Richard Nixon (67), Ronald Reagan (60), and Bill Clinton (60).

What's even more shocking is that just days earlier, riding the crest of supposedly good news surrounding the election in Iraq, Bush -- as measured by the very same CNN/USA Today/Gallup polling unit -- posted his best approval ratings in 13 months. For the survey conducted Feb. 4-6, his approval rating shot up to 57 percent; heights Bush hadn't reached since January 2004, and hadn't consistently hit, month-after-month, since the spring of 2003.

Yet the most recent results show Bush's approval ratings cratering eight points to 49 percent and his disapproval ratings spiking 8 points to 48 percent. That's a 16-point swing in less than one week.