38 Percent

The new Washington Post/ABC News poll finds Great Leader at 38 percent approval. That's down three points in a month and his lowest showing ever in this particular poll.

Bush's overall job approval has remained below 50 percent for nearly a year while the proportion of the public critical of the president consistently has topped 50 percent. And perhaps more ominously for the president, 47 percent say they "strongly" disapproved of Bush's handling of the presidency--more than double the percentage who strongly approved (20 percent) and the second straight month that the proportion of Americans intensely critical of the president was larger than his overall job approval rating.

The public is more critical of Bush's performance in specific areas. A third approved of his handling of immigration issues while six in 10 disapproved. And as thousands gather on the Mall today to protest efforts to tighten immigration policy, three in four Americans said the government isn't doing enough to keep illegal immigrants from entering the United States.

The continued bloodshed and political chaos in Iraq continues to drag down support for the war, the new survey found. Barely four in 10--41 percent--currently say the war was worth fighting. down five percentage points since December.

The Post engages in the usual boilerplate about how Bush's lousy numbers, combined with growing dissatisfaction with the Republican-led congress, foretells Democratic victories in the mid-term elections. This rhetoric has reached the level of CW, for some reason. It is not unlike the way the press continued to describe Bush as "popular" long after he wasn't anymore.

Let's be clear. Bush's and the Republican Party's unpopularity do not equal support for the Democrats, no matter what the polls show in hypothetical matchups. In order to turn a dsyfunctional party out of office, voters have to be given a credible alternative. They have to be inspired to throw the bums out. Today's Democrats are trying too hard not to do that. With too few exceptions, they are not even willing to call Bush a lawbreaker for breaking the law against warantless domestic surveillance. How can you rally people to your side when they don't even know what your side is?

Yes, the Democratic national security plan was a good move, but how many people have even heard of it? On the other hand, the Feingold censure resolution was on most peoples minds and lips for more than a week. Rather than rally to Feingold's side, they literally hid behind each other to avoid even taking a position on the resolution. They were actually afraid of being seen as strongly opposed to the president's criminal behavior. Had they stood with one voice and demanded calling Bush to account, the line between the Democrats and the Republicans would have been as sharp as it has ever been, with Democrats on the side of the constitution and Republicans on the side of the deeply distrusted and disliked George W. Bush. What better place from which to build electoral momentum could there be? Instead, they acted out of fear and calculation. It was, to put it very mildly, unininspiring.

Yes, it is great to see Bush's numbers plummet. But, it becomes nothing more than a journalistic exercise if Democrats cannot make it translate into votes for their side.