The bleeding continues

By Edward Copeland

The latest NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll (pdf) has something for everyone to fear with dismal numbers for Dubya, Congress and the worst right track/wrong track numbers yet. The poll also shows more Republicans leaving the sinking Bush Administration ship.

WASHINGTON -- As President Bush attempts to revive the controversial immigration reform bill he supports, the latest NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll finds that Republicans are abandoning the president, which has dropped his job-approval rating below 30 percent -- his lowest mark ever in the survey.

But he isn’t the only one whose support is on the decline in the poll. Congress’ approval rating has plummeted eight points, bringing it below even Bush’s. And just one in five believe the country is on the right track, which is the lowest number on this question in nearly 15 years.

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In the poll, Bush’s approval rating is at just 29 percent. It’s a drop of six points since April, and it represents his lowest mark ever on this question in the NBC/Journal poll.

Democratic pollster Jay Campbell, who works with Hart, attributes this decline to Republicans. Back in April, 75 percent of Republicans approved of Bush’s job performance, compared with 21 percent who disapproved. Now, only 62 percent of Republican approve, versus 32 percent who disapprove.

This definitely shows another feeling of "a pox on all their houses" building out there. With both parties' nominations possibly be locked up by early March 2008, it seems even more likely that fatigue with the same two people in an eight-to-nine month presidential campaign to look to a third party choice and someone with deep pockets such as Mike Bloomberg could be poised to fill that void. In the unlikely event that the GOP nominates Rudy Giuliani and the Democrats make the fatal error of nominating Hillary Nothing-But-Ambition Clinton and then Bloomberg enters, we could see a three-way, all-NY race.

Good news for Hillary from this poll though: She has widened her national lead over Obama and Edwards, both whom have slipped. On the Republican side, Giuliani still leads but the still unofficial candidacy of Fred Thompson has placed him in second place, ahead of both Romney and McCain.