WASHINGTON, Jan. 29 (Xinhua) -- More than half the Americans, or 58 percent, say they wish the Bush presidency to be simply over,a sentiment that is almost unanimous among Democrats (86 percent),according to a latest Newsweek poll.

    The poll, published on the Newsweek magazine's website Monday, also found U.S. President George W. Bush's approval ratings are at their lowest point in the poll's history -- 30 percent.

    With Bush widely viewed as an ineffectual "lame duck" (by 71 percent), over half (53 percent) of the poll's respondents now say they believe history will see him as a below-average president, up three points from last May.

    Sixty-seven percent say the president's decisions are influenced more by his personal beliefs.

    This, said pollsters, perhaps explains why only about half (49 percent) of adult Americans even bothered to watch or listen to any of the State of the Union speech as it happened.

    Public fatigue over the war in the Iraq is not reflected solely in the president's numbers, however.

    Congress is criticized by nearly two-thirds (64 percent) of the poll's respondents for not being assertive enough in challenging the Bush administration's conduct of the war.

    The poll, which also examined the preferences of registered Democrats for their party's presidential nomination in 2008, shows that Sen. Hillary Clinton has a 20-point lead over junior Sen. Barack Obama (55 percent to 35 percent) and a 34-point lead over former Sen. John Edwards (63 percent to 29 percent).

    The poll was conducted Jan. 24-25 and 1,003 U.S. adults were interviewed.