"President Bush has set a record he'd presumably prefer to avoid: the highest disapproval rating of any president in the 70-year history of the Gallup Poll. In a USA TODAY/Gallup Poll taken Friday through Sunday, 28% of Americans approve of the job Bush is doing; 69% disapprove. The approval rating matches the low point of his presidency, and the disapproval sets a new high for any president since [Gallup began asking the question.]" Political scientists blame the president's high disapproval numbers on the failing economy and growing consensus that going to war in Iraq might not have been the smartest thing to do. Also: "Assessments of Bush's presidency are harsh. By 69%-27%, those polled say Bush's tenure in general has been a failure, not a success." The 27% who consider the Bush record to be successful noted such highlights as "tap water is still free," the possible "career resurgence of Britney Spears," the "failure of the New England Patriots to go undefeated" last season, and the fact that, no matter what, we'll have a new president in January 2009.