Poll: Stumping not boosting Bush popularity

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WASHINGTON (CNN) -- President Bush's popularity has not been buoyed by a series of public events in recent days, a new CNN poll suggests.

Bush's approval rating hovers in the high 30s, where it has been throughout October.

The poll, conducted by Opinion Research Corp., found that 37 percent of Americans polled approve of how Bush is handling his job as president; 58 percent disapprove. (View Bush's approval rating)

The president's approval dropped slightly from the poll taken a week earlier, from 39 percent to 37 percent, but the change was within the poll's sampling error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.

The president's party may be gaining some ground in Congressional races. Among the likely voters polled, 53 percent say they will choose the Democratic candidate for Congress in their district; that's down four points since last week's poll. Republicans get 42 percent support among likely voters, up two points since last week. However, the shifts in support are within the margin of error of plus or minus 4.5 percentage points.

A total of 1,014 adult Americans were interviewed for the latest poll between October 27 and 29.