Bush creeps up from all-time low mark in poll

WASHINGTON — President Bush's poll numbers are up from his all-time low but are still the weakest of any second-term president at this point since Harry Truman.

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With Bush in a bitter showdown with Congress over Iraq, the AP-Ipsos poll puts his approval rating for early March at 35 percent. That's up from his low of 32 percent in February.

Bush is weighed down by the unpopular war about to begin its fifth year, and by opposition to his decision to send more troops into combat.

The president's approval rating on a range of issues is largely unchanged from last month. He gets 41 percent for his handling of the economy, 37 percent for domestic issues, 38 for foreign policy and the war on terror, and a 32-percent rating for how he's handling the war in Iraq.

The AP-Ipsos poll gives Congress a 32-percent approval rating, three points worse than Bush.