Amid rising public anger over Iraq and homeland security, President George W Bush's [Images] approval rating dipped to a new low with most of the Americans wanting Democrats to take control of Congress in November mid-term elections, according to a poll.

Bush's approval rating of 36 per cent matched the low point in his presidency recorded last November, the poll conducted by Newsweek magazine showed.

Less than half of those surveyed (44 per cent) approved the way Bush was handling terrorism and homeland security. Despite a series of presidential speeches meant to bolster support for the war in Iraq, only 29 per cent of the people approved Bush's handling of the situation in Iraq while 65 per cent disapproved, the poll revealed.

His approval ratings for the handling of energy policy (28 per cent) and health care (28 per cent) were at new lows, while approval on economy (36 per cent) mirrored his overall rating. The single area where Bush accrued more approval than disapproval was in his appointments to the Supreme Court, which 47 per cent approved, according to the poll.

Republicans control both houses of Congress, but public opinion now favors a Democratic takeover this November by a margin of 50 per cent to 34 per cent, it showed.

Responding to questions about efforts of Democrat Russ Feingold to censure Bush in Congress for his needless wiretapping programme, 42 per cent people said they would support Congressional censure of the President while 50 per cent say they would not, the poll showed.

Results of the poll by Princeton Survey Research Associates International for Newsweek are based on telephone interviews with 1,020 adults, conducted on March 16-17.