Bush Hits New Low as 'Wrong Track' Rises

Republicans, while still behind the president, are less emphatically so: Just 39 percent strongly approve of his performance, while 56 percent of independents and 78 percent of Democrats strongly disapprove.

Among other groups, Bush does best with conservatives -- 57 percent approve -- and evangelical white Protestants, another core Republican group, in which 49 percent approve, a point from the low in this group.

DIRECTION -- Views on the nation's overall direction are sour across the board, again with a partisan and ideological slant: While 95 percent of Democrats and 86 percent of independents say the country's off on the wrong track, this eases to 62 percent of Republicans and 66 percent of conservatives.

These views directly relate to the president's ratings. Among people who say the country's headed in the right direction, 83 percent approve of Bush's work. His problem is that they constitute just 16 percent of the population. Among the 82 percent who say the country's off on the wrong track, Bush's approval rating is a dismal 21 percent.

METHODOLOGY -- This ABC News/Washington Post poll was conducted by telephone May 8-11, 2008, among a random national sample of 1,122 adults, including an oversample of blacks (weighted to their correct share of the national population), for a total of 206 black respondents. The results from the full survey have a 3-point error margin. Sampling, data collection and tabulation by TNS of Horsham, Pa.

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