Bush’s rating at new low in Maine

President Bush’s popularity may have bottomed out in Maine, according to a new public opinion poll released Thursday.

But Bush’s 24 percent approval rating – his lowest in four years in the Pine Tree State, according to the survey – just might be a temporary condition.

“Any poll is a snapshot in time, but probably even more so in this case,” said Mark Brewer, a political scientist at the University of Maine, predicting the president will see at least a temporary bump in his popularity as the result of the recent death of Iraqi al-Qaida leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.

The weeklong Critical Insights survey of 604 Mainers ended on May 30, a little more than a week before U.S. troops killed al-Zarqawi in Iraq. The poll has a 4 percent margin of error.

The poll found that roughly 60 percent of Mainers had an unfavorable view of the president. Among Democrats, only 7 percent of those surveyed had a favorable opinion of Bush. Among Republicans, his popularity stood at 43 percent – a 9-point drop from the fall survey.

Bush is far less popular in Maine than in the rest of the nation, the Critical Insights poll suggests. While less than one-quarter of Mainers support the president, his approval numbers range between 35 percent and 40 percent nationwide.

On the subject of the Iraq war, the Critical Insights poll found that only 31 percent of Mainers approved of the way Bush was handling the conflict.

That number is similar to an AP-Ipsos poll released Thursday. That nationwide poll found that 33 percent of those surveyed favored his handling of the war.

Not surprisingly, the highest disapproval numbers came from Maine Democrats, 88 percent of whom faulted Bush’s policy in Iraq. Among Republicans, Bush held on to a majority, with 54 percent favoring his approach to the war.

Similar to his approval ratings, Mainers’ opinions of Bush policies also hit new lows in the state. According to the survey, 22 percent of Mainers thought Bush policies were moving the country in the right direction. Sixty-four percent thought the country was headed in the wrong direction.

In this measure, Bush also saw a substantial drop among Republicans, with just 39 percent – down from 55 percent in the fall – approving of his policies.

The poll also found that 29 percent of Mainers believed congressional Republicans were more corrupt than Democrats. Ten percent believed Democrats were more corrupt than Republicans. However, 44 percent of those surveyed said both parties were equally corrupt.