The most heartening recent poll is, of course, the Zogby poll that shows Bush with a 45% positive and 54% negative rating; of this poll's respondents, "a majority (52%) said it’s time for someone new in the White House, while just two in five (40%) said the president deserves to be re-elected."

A new ABC News poll isn't nearly as satisfying, but it contains some signs that the public is starting to get the point:

...71 percent [of Americans] still worry about further major [terrorist] attacks — and fewer than half, 45 percent, are confident the government can prevent them.

Indeed, one of the biggest changes in the last year is a decline in the number of Americans who think the Bush administration is doing a good job handling the war on terrorism — still a majority, but down 18 points from a year ago, to 55 percent....

Another concern is Osama bin Laden: With reports of continued al Qaeda-inspired attacks, the number of Americans who say he must be killed or captured for the war on terrorism to be a success has jumped, from 44 percent a year ago to 62 percent now.

Bush's overall job approval rating, which soared to a record 92 percent shortly after the attacks, dipped to 56 percent in this poll, its lowest since before 9/11.

ABC ascribes the dip in Bush's approval to the economy, but

...Forty-nine percent now approve of Bush's handling of the situation in Iraq, down from 56 percent in late August and from 75 percent in late April.

Interesting.