But it could be worse for Bush.

He could be Vice President Dick Cheney.

His approval ratings are even lower than Bush's, in part because Cheney's chief of staff Lewis "Scooter" Libby was recently indicted for allegedly lying to a grand jury investigating the leaked identity of a covert CIA agent.

Despite the trying times for Bush and Cheney, they still have the strong backing of Utah, Idaho and Wyoming.

Those are the only three states to give Cheney an approval rating above 50 percent, according to a SurveyUSA poll released Tuesday and sponsored in part by KSL-TV.

They are the same three states to give Bush his highest marks in a mid-October SurveyUSA poll.

Brigham Young University political scientist Quin Monson said it all comes down to the dominant Republican majorities in these Intermountain states.

"With such a high percent of Republicans, Utah is inclined to look at what President Bush is doing in a positive light and give him the benefit of the doubt longer," Monson said.

The latest Gallup Poll released Monday shows Bush's approval rating slipped to 37 percent nationally, the lowest recorded during his presidency.

That's still three percentage points higher than Cheney scored in the SurveyUSA poll released Tuesday, which is available on the Web at http://www.surveyusa.com.

Utah pollster Dan Jones said he isn't surprised by the results.

"Dick Cheney has always been popular in Utah, but he will never be as popular as George W. Bush," Jones said.

"If you are a good vice president you never outshine your president."

Dan Jones and Associates found that 61 percent of Utahns still back Bush in a survey conducted late last week for KSL and the Deseret Morning News. That is consistent with an October poll by SurveyUSA, which showed that Bush's highest marks come from the Beehive State.

Not surprisingly, Cheney is most popular in his home state of Wyoming, with an approval rating of 55 percent. Utah comes in second at 51 percent. Half of the respondents in Idaho backed Cheney. In all, only 13 states give Cheney an approval rating above 40 percent.

Jones said Bush's troubles are cascading through the Republican Party.

"Bush is affecting all Republicans who are in office right now," he said.

"That is especially true of the vice president."

But Monson said Cheney's role as "the hatchet man" also explains part of the 10 percentage point gap between Utahns support for Bush and their support for the vice president.

"He has been the point person for some pretty unpopular things," he said, citing the rationale behind the Iraq war.

"The fact that [Cheney] is not running for president is very good news for Republicans," Monson said. "The [2008] candidate will most likely have very few ties to this White House and that will be helpful in many situations."

mcanham@sltrib.com