Bush approval rating down 5 points in Fox News poll

This is not a good way to start of the new term. Being down in a Fox poll says a lot. Fox News' Dana Blanton writes up the poll:

George W. Bush ends the year with more Americans, on average, approving than disapproving of the job he's doing as president, although his average job rating for 2004 is the lowest annual average of the four years of his first term.

Currently almost half (48 percent) of Americans approve of his job performance, down 5 percentage points from mid-November, and 45 percent disapprove, up 5 points.

The Opinion Dynamics poll also tested the waters for 2008, with some interesting results:

Hillary Clinton: 40
Bill Frist: 33
Other (vol.)/Unsure: 27

Hillary Clinton: 41
George Pataki: 35
Other (vol.)/Unsure: 24

Hillary Clinton: 46
Jeb Bush: 35
Other (vol.)/Unsure: 19

John Kerry: 45
Jeb Bush: 37
Other (vol.)/Unsure: 18

Although Hillary wins those races, she doesn't get close to 50% except against a Bush, so I wouldn't read too much into them. Nonetheless, it's interesting to see her beating all those Republicans.