Forty-eight percent of respondents say Obama is a better president than Bush. | AP Photos Poll: Obama is better than Bush

As low as President Barack Obama’s approval ratings might sink, Americans say he’s at least better than former President George W. Bush, a new poll shows.

In fact, 48 percent of respondents said that Obama is a better president than Bush, says a Thursday Time poll. Only 37 percent think that Bush performed better than Obama, while 7 percent put their performances at roughly equal.


While Obama’s approval rating is down to 44 percent, with 50 percent disapproving, many respondents still said they found him “tough” and empathetic.

Despite the fact that 81 percent believe that the country is on the wrong track, when asked whether “Obama is tough enough to be president during these times,” 50 percent of respondents said yes, while 44 percent said no.

Questioned about whether “Obama cares about people like yourself or not,” 59 percent said they felt he did, and 37 percent said they believed he didn’t.

Democrats were also deemed more able to deal with “the main problems the nation faces” over the next few years than Republicans. Forty-two percent agreed with that notion, while 31 percent said Republicans were better suited.

The poll also revealed that the Occupy Wall Street movement was more widely supported than the tea party movement, with 54 percent of respondents saying they had a “somewhat favorable” or “very favorable” view of the Occupy Wall Street demonstrations, while only 27 percent said that same about the tea partiers.

The Time poll surveyed 1,001 adults, 83 percent of whom are self-described likely voters, between Oct. 9 and Oct. 10, 2011.