President Bush’s job approval ratings have dropped to the lowest point during his administration, according to a Gallup poll conducted April 6-9. Approval of his performance stood at 28 percent. Two-thirds of Republicans approve of his performance, but only a quarter of independents and 6 percent of Democrats. Only three presidents since World War 2 have ever had lower ratings – Jimmy Carter, Richard Nixon and Harry Truman. The yearly average for Bush’s approval ratings have been falling since his second year in office when they stood at 71.3 percent. Bush registered his highest reading at 90 percent in Sept. 2001.

The three presidents who fared worse as far as low points suffered the drops for a variety of reasons. Nixon, of course, had Watergate. Truman’s administration grappled with an ailing economy and the war in Korea. And Carter’s lowest came at a time when Americans saw the economy as failing and had been stunned by major gasoline shortages.