WASHINGTON, DC (CNN) President Bush has a 38% approval rating in our new CNN-Opinion Research Corporation poll. That's two points higher than when we last asked the question last month. 61 % of those questioned in our new poll say they disapprove of the way Mr. Bush is handling his job. The two point rise in the approval rating is within the polls three point margin of error. (Full poll results [PDF])

"Don't make too much of the two-point rise," CNN Polling Diretcor Keating Holland notes. "Bush's support may have gone up, but the increase is well within the margin of sampling error."

The Presidential approval rating in our poll is ten points higher than a Newsweek survey that came out over the weekend. When you add together the eight national polls done the President's approval rating the past few weeks, the average comes to 35%.

The CNN/Opinion Research Corporation poll was conducted by telephone on May 4-6 with 1,028 adult Americans.

CNN/OPINION RESEARCH CORPORATION POLL


Approve        38%
Disapprove     61%

Sampling error: +/-3% pts 

Eight national polls have been conducted in the past few weeks.  
The "poll of polls" average for Bush's approval rating in those 
eight polls is 35%.

POLL OF POLLS

CNN/Opinion Research    May 4-6           38%
Newsweek                May 2-3           28%
Quinnipiac              April 25-May 1    35%
Diageo/Hotline          April 26-30       35%
CBS/New York Times      April 20-24       32%
NBC/Wall St. Journal    April 20-23       35%
Pew                     April 18-22       35%
Fox News                April 17-18       38%

AVERAGE = 35%