Poll: Approval for Iraq handling drops to new low

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Support for President Bush's management of the Iraq war has dropped to an all-time low even as his overall approval remains tepid but steady, according to a CNN poll released Monday.

The survey, conducted Friday through Sunday by Opinion Research Corp., found support for Bush's handling of the Iraq conflict has decreased to 28 percent from 34 percent in a poll taken October 13-15.

And a record 70 percent of respondents said they disapproved of Bush's war management, up from 64 percent in the October poll.

Meanwhile, Bush's overall job approval was 36 percent -- down only 1 percentage point from the last CNN poll asking that question December 5-7.

Sixty-two percent said they disapproved of his performance in office, up from 57 percent in the previous poll.

The poll, which surveyed 1,019 adults, had a sampling error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.

Bush and his advisers are seeking a new strategy for the war in Iraq, where U.S. troops are battling an insurgency while trying to stem the sectarian violence that has become rampant since the February bombing of a revered Shiite mosque in Samarra. (Watch how even children are unable to escape the violenceVideo)

In a report earlier this month, the bipartisan Iraq Study Group called conditions in Iraq "grave and deteriorating."

Bush has been reluctant to embrace some of the report's key proposals, including a withdrawal of most U.S. combat troops by early 2008 and a call for direct talks with Iran and Syria.

(The rest is here.)