Most Americans Approve Of NSA Phone Data Program

President Bush's approval rating has hit another all-time low, but since it seems I headline that same story day after day I thought I'd go with the first reading on the NSA phone-call monitoring story as today's lead.

An ABC News-Washington Post poll conducted yesterday and released today indicates that Americans, by a 63% to 35% margin, approve of the phone-data gathering program.

By 65% to 31%, Americans think it is more important right now for the government to investigate terorrist threats than protect individual privacy.

By a 53% to 45% margin, Americans think the government is doing enough to protect individual rights as it conducts the so-called "war on terror."

And, providing at least some proof that these Americans are reading the same Constitution that I'm reading, 56% of those polled thought it was right of the news media to divulge details of the program.

SEN. CLINTON BLASTS NSA PROGRAM

New York Sen. Hillary Clinton put out a statement today blasting the NSA's phone-call data program.

BUSH SINKS TO YET-ANOTHER NEW APPROVAL LOW - 29%

WSJ.com (The Wall Street Journal's online service) reports today a new Harris Interactive poll puts President Bush's approval rating at a new low - 29%.

The poll puts the GOP-controlled Congress' approval rating at 18%

Sixty-nine percent of those polled say America has "seriously gotten off on the wrong track."

NOVEMBER IMPLICATIONS?

Will numbers like these, if they continue into the fall, have a major effect on the GOP's fortunes in the November mid-term elections? An article today on The Daily Standard Web site, the online presence of the conservative opinion journal The Weekly Standard, says things may be shaping up like 1994 in reverse. 1994, of course, was the year the Republicans rode a wave of voter anger and gained control of Congress for more than a decade.