Bad news hits Bush popularity
2005-10-30 14:36
Washington - President George W Bush's approval rating is continuing to slide, with 58% of those surveyed in a new poll out on Sunday unhappy at the way he is going his job.
Thirty-nine percent gave Bush a positive rating, down from 42% on September 11 of this year, according to the poll by The Washington Post and ABC News.
It was taken among 600 people October 28-29, as Bush's White House was rocked by a top official's indictment in a CIA leak investigation, and after the defeat of his Supreme Court pick Harriet Miers.
The president's popularity has also been dented by high gasoline prices and fallout from Hurricane Katrina.
Asked about ethics in Bush's administration, the poll found 64% believed Bush's handling of the area was fair or poor; 34 percent said they believed it was good or excellent.
And 69% of those surveyed said vice president Dick Cheney's chief of staff I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby's indictment represented a serious crime, compared to 26% who said it was a minor or technical crime.
Libby, 55, announced his resignation after he was indicted in a case that ignited fresh controversy over the US rationale for war with Iraq.
He faces one count of obstruction of justice, two counts of perjury and two counts of making false statements to FBI agents looking into the leaking of the identity of CIA agent Valery Plame.
Libby faces up to 30 years in jail and a $1.25m fine if convicted on all five counts alleged by special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald, which raise the prospect of a gripping and potentially politically damaging trial.
Bush's political guru Karl Rove, also in Fitzgerald's sights during a two-year probe, was not indicted, but will remain under investigation, his lawyer said.
Fitzgerald was given the task of finding out whether senior Bush administration officials broke the law by knowingly exposing Plame, wife of former diplomat Joseph Wilson.
Wilson had claimed her cover was blown to discredit him, after he questioned whether the Bush administration had "twisted" intelligence in the push to war with Iraq.
- SAPA