In the “who’s to blame for this lousy economy?” sweepstakes, more than half of voters believe former President George W. Bush should bear the blame, while more than a third say it’s President Obama’s fault, says a Rasmussen survey conducted Oct. 2-3.

In the telephone poll of 1,000 likely voters, 55 percent blamed the current financial situation on a recession which began under Bush, while 37 percent said the troubles stem from the policies President Obama has put in place since taking office.

Most voters trust their own judgment more than the president’s when it comes to economic issues affecting the nation: 59 percent trust themselves, 29 percent trust Obama more and 12 percent are not sure.

President Obama's approval rating is at 51 percent and could wind up as one of the fastest declines in presidential approval since World War II, according to a poll conducted by Gallup Aug. 23-25.

Only presidents Gerald R. Ford and Bill Clinton took faster falls in approval after taking office. Ford dipped below majority approval after three months in office, and Clinton reached that point after four months in the White House, Gallup said.

President Eisenhower had the longest run of popularity in office, with 63 months above the 50-percent mark. At its lowest point, his popularity reached 48 percent in March and April 1958 and rebounded back to majority approval, Gallup said.

Most voters still have a pretty bleak view of the state of the economy and the direction of the country but 47 percent say they would put the blame on former President Bush rather than Barack Obama if the economy doesn't improve or worsens in the next six months, according to a Fox News/Opinion Dynamics poll conducted March 31 - April 1. A quarter of voters would blame Obama, 9 percent would blame both a nd 15 percent say neither.

Twenty-nine percent finger corporate leaders as the biggest culprits in precipitating the financial crisis, 23 percent point to the Bush administration, 19 percent blame congressional leaders and 5 percent say Obama.

Sen. Patrick Leahy, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, called this week for an independent commission to examine alleged wrongdoing by the Bush administration, ranging from its detainee and interrogation policies to the firing of U.S. attorneys. But a USA Today/Gallup poll conducted Jan. 30 - Feb. 1 finds that a majority of American support some kind of action, but they differ on whether their should be criminal investigations or probes by specially-appointed panels.

Forty-one percent think there should be a criminal investigation of possible attempts to use the Justice Department for political purposes, 30 percent back an examination by an independent panel and 25 percent say neither should happen.

Journalism is often called the first draft of history, and if polls are the first draft of a leader's legacy, the verdicts are not treating George Bush gently.

Like other polls this week, a New York Times/CBS News survey conducted Jan. 11-15 found Bush leaving office with 73 percent of Americans disapproving of the way he handled his job compared to 22 percent who supported him. That was way below any of his predecessors dating back to Jimmy Carter. Bill Clinton left office with a 68 percent approval rating, Bush's father registered 54 percent, Ronald Reagan left at 68 percent, and Carter at 44 percent.

Gallup's final poll on the presidential performance of Republican George W. Bush shows he is leaving office with the lowest job approval score - 34 percent - since one-term Democrat Jimmy Carter following his defeat by the GOP's Ronald Reagan in 1980.

You have to go back even further - to the biggest presidential downfall of all time -- to find a president who drew more disapproval upon his departure from office. Among the presidents who have served since World War II, Bush's final 61 percent disapproval rating in the Gallup poll was the highest since Republican Richard M. Nixon resigned in August 1974 because of his involvement in the Watergate scandal.

Although Carter also had a 34 percent approval rating in a final poll taken much earlier before his departure (Dec. 5-8, 1980), a smaller share of respondents, 55 percent, expressed outright disapproval.

Few changes of fortunes in politics has been as dramatic as President Bush's nose-dive in approval ratings since the high standing he established with the public in the wake of the 9/11 attacks in 2001.

A look at the numbers by the Pew Research Center showed him at 86 percent approval for the way he handled that crisis, a number that slipped in 2002 and 2003 until it bumped up again after the U.S. invasion of Iraq appeared to be successful, leading to Bush's visit to the carrier Abraham Lincoln where, with a "Mission Accomplished" banner in the background, the President declared major combat in Iraq at an end. (The banner had been put up by the White House advance team, but Bush distanced himself from it, sensitive to criticism that such a declaration was premature). But his approval numbers rose back up, to 75 percent.

After the 2004 election, it was all downhill, with Bush never again getting above the 50 percent mark. Events like the federal handling of Hurricane Katrina, the beating Republicans took in the 2006 midterm elections and the Walter Reed Hospital story greased the skid until Bush hit bottom during the current economic crisis, languishing around 25 percent.