WASHINGTON, July 25 Aides to U.S. President George Bush said his near-record unpopularity in polls is liberating in his final 18 months in office, the Washington Post reported.
In a Washington Post-ABC News poll released this week, 65 percent of respondents across the country said they were dissatisfied with Bush's job performance.
The newspaper said in records examined dating to 1938, only former U.S. President Richard Nixon had a worse ranking -- 66 percent. Nixon resigned four days after the poll was published in 1974.
Within the most recent poll's respondents disapproving, 52 percent "strongly" disapprove of his performance and 28 percent describe themselves as "angry."
While Bush has long said he doesn't govern by poll numbers, unidentified White House aides told the Post the president can now do what he thinks is right without regard to political cost.
At the height of the Vietnam war, U.S. President Lyndon Johnson had a poll disapproval of 52 percent. Presidents Franklin Roosevelt, Dwight Eisenhower, John Kennedy and Gerald Ford never had disapproval ratings reach 50 percent, the newspaper said.
Copyright 2007 by UPI
