We watched Sheppard Smith express shock at Bush’s sinking support. He must have ignored the teleprompter script when he chimed in with his own opinion that “only the extreme right, the fundamentalist base, is still loyal to Bush”. Proving, once again, that Smith is the male equivalent of a “dumb blond” on Fox News. The only people still supporting Bush are a few milquetoast “moderates”.

Bush has been a weak leader, at times confused and uninspiring, an MBA with poor management skills, a poor judge of character and talent, and a left of center moderate. Nevertheless, the thought of the alternatives, Algore and Jean Kerry, makes us shudder. Predictably, voters are even less satisfied with Congress.

The Reuters/Zogby Index, which measures the mood of the country, also fell from 98.8 to 96 — the second consecutive month it has dropped. The number of Americans who believe the country is on the wrong track jumped four points to 66 percent.

Bush’s job approval rating fell to 24 percent from last month’s record low for a Zogby poll of 29 percent. A paltry 11 percent gave Congress a positive grade, tying last month’s record low.

The national telephone survey of 991 likely voters, conducted October 10 through October 14, found barely one-quarter of Americans, or 26 percent, believe the country is headed in the right direction.

The poll found declining confidence in U.S. economic and foreign policy. About 18 percent gave positive marks to foreign policy, down from 24 percent, and 26 percent rated economic policy positively, down from 30 percent.

A majority of Americans still rate their personal financial situation as excellent or good, although the number dipped slightly this month to 54 percent from 56 percent. In August, 59 percent rated their finances as excellent or good.

John Zogby is a leader in the Arab American community. His Polls are sometimes accurate.