Bush's approval rating hits new low in Gallup poll

WASHINGTON, Mar 14 (Reuters) A CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll released put President George W. Bush's approval rating at 36 percent, a new low for that poll but similar to his rating in other recent surveys.

The poll, taken Friday through Saturday, showed Bush's approval rating dropped from 38 percent in late February-early March, while his disapproval rating remained steady at 60 percent.

A recent CBS poll put Bush's approval rating at 34 percent amid public doubts about the Iraq war and Bush's support for allowing some U.S. ports to be controlled by a Dubai company.

On the same day Bush launched another offensive to build public support for the war in Iraq, the CNN poll showed more than half of Americans, 57 percent, believed the war was a mistake and half believed the war was going badly.

Two-thirds, 67 percent, of respondents thought Bush did not have a clear plan for handling the situation in Iraq, said the poll of 1,001 adults, which had a margin of error of 3 percentage points.

Reuters SK VP0525