Rasmussen: Bush's Approval Rating Tops 50% For First Time In Months

51%. Not great, but better than the recent low-forties numbers he's had.

That sounds about right to me. I just think this question is largely a proxy for "How do you think things are going right now?," and the fact is things are going at about a 48-52% okay sort of clip. The economy continues to strengthen, though not dramatically, and we are, despite the media's best efforts to claim otherwise, slowly winning the war in Iraq.

But there are just too many bad things going on right now -- the record (real dollar) cost of oil and gas, the upsurge in terrorist violence in Iraq that still hasn't really petered out, and general anxiety about the country's future.

Bush is not a caretaker president, as Clinton largely was. He's determined to accomplish some great things, and lately he seems to be failing on most of them. Change makes people anxious, and in both domestic and foreign policy Bush is pushing for pretty dramatic changes. Mostly for the better, I think -- but many people just don't like to think about big changes.

Thanks to Polipundit. And thanks to Lorie Byrd for giving this site the goose in traffic that's keeping today from being yet another low-traffic day.