WASHINGTON, June 17 (Xinhuanet) -- US President George W. Bush got one of the lowest approval ratings of his presidency, with the public becoming increasingly pessimistic about Iraq and skeptical about his plan to revamp Social Security, a new poll published on Friday showed.

    In the New York Times/CBS News poll, 42 percent of the people surveyed said they approved of the way Bush was handling his job, a marked decline from his 51 percent support rating after the November election.

    On Iraq, only 37 percent approved of the way he was handling the issue, and on foreign policy and economy, Bush received support from only 39 percent of those responding to the poll.

    Despite Bush's aggressive efforts this year to win support for his plan to overhaul Social Security that would allow younger workers to put part of their payroll taxes into private investmentaccounts, two-thirds said they were not confident about Bush's ability to make sound decisions on the Social Security issue, and only 25 percent said they approved of the way Bush was handling Social Security, down slightly from March.

    Forty-five percent said the more they heard about the Bush plan,the less they liked it, according to the poll, which was conductedfrom June 10 to 15 with 1,111 adults responding, and has a margin of error of about three percentage points.

    On the war on terrorism, Bush continued to have majority support - 52 percent - one of his strength throughout his 2004 re-election campaign.

    Sixteen months before the mid-term reelections, the Congress fared even worse in the survey, with the approval of just 33 percent of respondents, and only 19 percent saying the Congress shared their priorities.

    The poll was one of a series of recent surveys that registered difficulties for Bush. A Gallup poll found Bush with a 47 percent approval rating, and a Washington Post-ABC News poll showed his approval rating at 48 percent. Enditem