Bush Down to His Base of Support.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- To see the type of person who still backs him, President Bush need only look in the mirror. The president fits the composite of today's Bush supporter: a conservative, white, Republican man, an evangelical Christian who goes to church regularly.

Hammered by bad news in Iraq, congressional investigations and recent failed domestic initiatives such as immigration reform, Bush's job approval rating has spiraled to record lows for his presidency. Two-thirds of Republicans and about one-third of independents still support him, but virtually no Democrats are left in Bush's camp.

Bush says he leads and is not led by popular opinion. Yet the lower his polls go, the harder it is for him to push his agenda - and bump the polls up when he has good news to impart.

"Maybe he's got it right, but hardly anybody believes him," said University of Virginia political scientist Larry Sabato.

Overall, just one in three Americans approves of the job he is doing, according to a July AP-Ipsos poll. That's a long fall from his 90 percent approval rating after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

"I don't think he likes being in that category, but for better or for worse, he believes he's right and he'll take his judgment with history," said Steve Roberts, a veteran GOP activist. "If he were interested in polls and popularity, he would have moved a lot quicker on Iraq."

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