The Economy

With most of the media's attention focused on the the presidential race, the recently released NYT poll indicates just how dismal the political situation is for President Bush as he begins his last year in office. Here are some key findings:

• Only 29 percent approve of the job he's doing as president
  
• 75 percent of Americans think the country is on the wrong track
• 61 percent believe that the economy is fairly bad (42 percent) or very bad (19 percent).  That's the lowest combined number for the entire Bush presidency.
• Only 4 percent of Americans think the economy is getting better, but 62 percent think it is getting worse.  The gap between the two is the biggest of the Bush presidency and the biggest since the recession of the early 1990s.
• Even though 40 percent thought the surge in troops in Iraq has improved the situation, the percentage of people who think it was wrong to invade and the percentage of people who want to get out in the next year or two hasn't really changed.

The real question how much an unpopular incumbent, an unpopular war, and a weak economy will weigh down the Republican nominee in the fall.