Surprising numbers

Well, not really surprising for the people who have been paying attention, but living down here among the Texas surburbanites, I'm surprised that the disapproval has seeped so deeply into those who aren't news junkies. We've all seen the approval ratings slide, but this is different. This is a big deal considering his whole reelection campaign was based on this number.

More critical to President Bush—and the GOP’s future as the nation’s majority party: most Americans, 52 percent, say they do not trust the president “to make the right decisions during a domestic crisis” (45 percent do). The numbers are exactly the same when the subject is trust of the president to make the right decisions during an international crisis.

Newsweek poll, so not the most rigorously scientific, but still a pretty big deal.