Living Too Much in the Bubble?

Dan Bartlett, counselor to the President, contends that the public will judge Bush on the future, not the past. "They want to know what happened," he said. "But they're more interested in how we're helping these people get back on their feet." Nonetheless, Bush, whose stump patter often includes a paean to maternal wisdom, is learning the hard way a lesson any mother could have imparted: you have only one chance to make a first impression. --With reporting by Perry Bacon Jr., Timothy J. Burger, Massimo Calabresi, James Carney, Matthew Cooper and Karen Tumulty / Washington

TIMEPOLL FOR BUSH, THE STORM AFTER THE STORM President Bush is losing support, even among Republicans... President Bush's overall job performance: •Disapprove: 52% •Approve: 42%

"Approve" percentages, by party affiliation: •Republican 91% -- Jan. 12-13 •Republican 81% -- Sept. 7-8 •Democrat 25% -- Jan. 12-13 •Democrat 13% -- Sept. 7-8 •Independent 46% -- Jan. 12-13 •Independent 36% -- Sept. 7-8

... and his overall standing is down on issues ranging from Iraq to gas prices

Views on President Bush's handling of ...

...the situation in Iraq Approve 39% Disapprove 57%

... the economy Approve 40% Disapprove 55%

... the war on terrorism Approve 46% Disapprove 48%

How much can a President do to keep gas prices down?

•A great deal/some 74% •Not much/nothing 23%

How much has President Bush done to keep gas prices down?

•A great deal/some 27% •Not much/nothing 69%

There's plenty of blame to go around, and some see race as a factor ...

Who bears responsibility for what went wrong with the relief effort after the hurricane? Percentage assigning a great deal or some responsibility to: •President Bush 61% •Federal agencies 70% •State, local officials 73% •People hit by hurricane 57%

Do you think the race or the low income level of many of the victims slowed government relief efforts?

Total   37% Yes 60% No 3% Don't know

Blacks 73% Yes 25% No 2% Don't know

... and most people want to pay for rebuilding by scaling back in Iraq

Should the destroyed areas of New Orleans be rebuilt, even though they could flood again? Yes 63% No 29%

The relief and rebuilding efforts will cost tens of billions of dollars. To pay for it, do you favor ... ... increasing the federal deficit? 30% Yes ... raising taxes temporarily? 35% Yes ... reinstating estate taxes on the wealthy? 44% Yes ... cutting other government programs? 45% Yes ... cutting back spending in Iraq?  61% Yes

This TIME poll was conducted by telephone Sept. 7-8 among 1,000 adult Americans by SRBI Public Affairs. Areas devastated by Hurricane Katrina (less than 1.5%of the U.S. population) are underrepresented. The margin of error for the entire sample is 3 percentage points. The margin of error is higher for subgroups