WASHINGTON, Sept. 13 (Xinhuanet) -- The heavily-criticized response to hurricane disaster has depressed US President George W. Bush's job-approval rating to the lowest point of his presidency at 42 percent, according to a latest survey.

    Releasing findings of the poll, co-conducted by The Washington Post and US TV news network ABC, the newspaper reported Tuesday that the figure was down three points since Hurricane Katrina hit US Gulf Coast two weeks ago.

    The poll, conducted among 1,201 randomly-selected US adults via interviews between Sept. 8-11, also found 57 of the interviewees disapproved of Bush's performance, a double-digit increase since January.

    Even some members of Bush's own camp appeared to have lost faith: The president's overall approval rating among Republicans has declined from 91 percent in January to 78 percent in the latest poll.

    Only half the country now characterized Bush as a "strong leader" -- down 12 points since May of last year. And the proportion who     saw he can be "trusted in a crisis" has fallen from 60 percent to 49 percent.

    Poll analysts attributed the drop of Bush's support ratio to the government's sluggish response to the hurricane, one of the worst natural disasters in American history.

    The survey showed clearly that the majority of Americans disapproved of the way officials at all levels of government are handling the recovery from Katrina.

    A 54-percent majority disapproved of Bush's response to Katrina while 57 percent said state and local officials should bear responsibility for the problems.

    On Monday, during his third tour to the hurricane-ravaged regionin the aftermath of Katrina, Bush sought to rally public support.

    He promised that the massive federal response, which already hasreceived funding of over 62 billion US dollars and involved more than 71,000 federal personnel on the ground, would be managed fairly.

    The Washington Post said Bush's aides privately viewed the latest poll numbers with gloomy realism but take heart from Bush's

    past ability to push the Republican Congress to follow his lead even when his popularity has flagged. Enditem