Washington -- President Bush's job approval ratings have fallen to a new low among California voters, as Republicans once loyal to the commander-in-chief are abandoning him over issues from the Iraq war to immigration to runaway federal spending, according to a Field Poll released today.
Even as Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has seen his ratings start to rebound among state voters, 28 percent of Californians now approve of the job Bush is doing, while 65 percent of state voters disapprove.
"We're in uncharted waters," said Mark DiCamillo, director of the Field Poll. "All previous presidents who have dipped this low either resigned from office shortly thereafter or were voted out of office. Here we have a president who will be with us for 2 1/2 more years.
"The question is, can a president who has reached those depths reconnect with voters and turn those ratings around? I've never seen it done before because we've never had it happen before."
Historically, Bush's ranking is just shy of the worst-ever approval rating given to a president by California voters -- 24 percent for President Richard Nixon in August 1974, just before he resigned from office.