President's approval rating drops to 60 percent in new poll

President Bush ( news - web sites)'s job approval has dropped to 60 percent in a new poll released Thursday by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press. His approval is in the mid 60s in several other recent polls.



Bush's approval was at 80 percent in January in this poll, but his numbers have dropped as the numbers showed more of a partisan divide.

_Bush's approval among Republicans has dropped from 95 percent to 83 percent. It has dropped from 69 percent to 39 percent among Democrats and from 79 percent to 65 percent among independents.

_In September 1998, then-President Clinton ( news - web sites) had a job approval of 61 percent as he faced increasing pressure in the Monica Lewinsky scandal. Clinton's support, like Bush's, was similarly partisan, with 88 percent of Democrats, 32 percent of Republicans and 59 percent of independents approving.

The Pew poll of 1,001 adults taken Aug. 14-25 has an error margin of plus or minus 3.5 percentage points.