Poll: Dodd's Approval Numbers Drop To New Lows

Dodd is head of the Senate Banking Committee, which has become a target for voter anger over the economic crisis.

He has repeatedly been asked to address the AIG bonuses. After first denying it, Dodd admitted he agreed to the Treasury Department's request to dilute a restriction in the big economic stimulus bill that Congress passed in February.

The change to Dodd's amendment allowed AIG to hand out the bonuses and sparked a blame game between Dodd and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner.

He's also under investigation by a Senate ethics panel for mortgages he got from Countrywide Financial Corp., which is at the center of the mortgage crisis.

Dodd, whose highest approval rating was 71 percent in April 2001, now trails behind fellow Connecticut Democratic U.S. Sen. Joe Lieberman's 46 percent rating.

Even when Lieberman was under fire for supporting the Iraq war and later for endorsing GOP Presidential candidate John McCain, his approval ratings never reached the 33 percent low that Dodd now faces.

The margin of error is 2.9 percentage points in the poll, which was conducted among 1,181 registered Connecticut voters between March 26 and 31.