Matt Ortega

President Bush set an all-time disapproval rating record in the CNN/Gallup polling by breaking the 70 percent mark to become the most unpopular president in modern American history.

“No president has ever had a higher disapproval rating in any CNN or Gallup poll; in fact, this is the first time that any president’s disapproval rating has cracked the 70 percent mark,” said CNN Polling Director Keating Holland.

“Bush’s approval rating, which stands at 28 percent in our new poll, remains better than the all-time lows set by Harry Truman and Richard Nixon (22 percent and 24 percent, respectively) but even those two presidents never got a disapproval rating in the 70s,” Holland added. “The previous all-time record in CNN or Gallup polling was set by Truman, 67 percent disapproval in January 1952.” [original emphasis]

With the anniversary of the invasion of Iraq fast approaching, two stories turned up in the RSS reader one after another:

Bush: Iraq War Worth It

And –

Poll: Majority of Americans Say War Not Worth It

Gallup published a new poll that shows the American people trust the Democrats with the country’s national security policy over the Republicans.

As all you regulars know, for months now pundits have hung on to the notion that the GOP still holds an advantage on national security issues, despite the fact that multiple polls have shown that this traditional GOP edge has been all but wiped out.

Now, however, Gallup has released a poll concluding that for the first time in its polling, Dems have a clear advantage on the issue:

Greg Sargent comments:

Five years and thousands of deaths in Iraq later, the lines have crossed and for the first time in Gallup polling, Dems lead the GOP on the issue, 47%-42%. While that’s within the poll’s margin of error, Gallup views this development as so significant that it’s now describing Dems as the “national security party.” As Gallup points out, in 2002 the GOP had an extraordinary 19-point lead over Dems. The next year Bush strutted around on the aircraft carrier and the GOP held a 15-point advantage. Now all that’s evaporated and been replaced by a Dem lead. [emphasis added]

The dawning of the Democrats as the “national security party” in the minds of the American public has created a “September 12 moment” for national Democrats.

It signifies an historic shift in public opinion providing an incredible opportunity that can be just as easily squandered — just as the Bush administration squandered the goodwill from around the globe following September 11.

(Hat tip: Oliver Willis)