It ain't over until Denny Hastert sings

May 5, 8:56 PM (ET)
WASHINGTON (AP) - Six months from mid-term elections, the intensity of opposition to Bush and Congress has risen sharply.

An AP-Ipsos poll also suggests that Democratic voters are far more motivated than Republicans.

This week's survey of 1,000 adults, including 865 registered voters, found:

- Just 33 percent of the public approves of Bush's job performance, the lowest of his presidency. Forty-five percent of self-described conservatives now disapprove of the president. The poll has a margin of error of 3 percentage points.

- A majority of Americans say they want Democrats rather than Republicans to control Congress (51 percent to 34 percent). That's the largest gap recorded by AP-Ipsos since Bush took office. Even 31 percent of conservatives want Republicans out of power.

Democrats need to gain 15 seats in the House and six in the Senate for control of Congress.

As for his overall job performance, history suggests that Bush's paltry 33 percent spells trouble for Republicans in the fall.

In the past six decades, only one president had a lower job approval rating six months before a midterm election - Richard Nixon in May 1974, the year in which Watergate-scarred Republicans lost 48 seats in the House and four in the Senate.

By November, Nixon was out of a job too, having resigned the presidency in August.