New Reuters/Zogby poll shows Republicans, weekly WalMart shoppers, Catholics, and men help buoy the President, but Democrats retain edge in battle for Congress

With control of Congress at stake in the crucial midterm elections six weeks away, President Bush is seeing a resurgence in support for the work he is doing, as gas prices drop and attention shifts from the war in Iraq to the war on terror, a new Reuters/Zogby International telephone poll shows.

Fifty–eight percent of the respondents gave him negative marks in the survey, which included 1,000 likely voters nationwide. The survey, conducted Sept. 22–25, 2006, carries a margin of error of +/– 3.2 percentage points.

Bush has rebounded from a low of 31% job approval in early June. Just two weeks ago, 39% gave him positive marks for his job performance. The Reuters/Zogby survey shows that members of the President’s political base are giving him better marks than they did a few months ago, as 44% of men, 44% of Catholics, 46% of married respondents, and 52% of regular WalMart shoppers rated his work well.

Another alarming factor for the GOP – the reliably conservative weekly WalMart shoppers favor their local Democratic congressional candidate by a 42% to 39% edge.

Democrats remain in the lead is the “generic” congressional election contest, where respondents are asked whether they intend to vote for the Republican or the Democrat in their local congressional election on Nov. 7. Their 42% to 33% edge has held steady despite Bush’s improvement in job approval.