Tiger and GWB Have Something in Common: People Really Don't Like Them

It's come to this: Tiger Woods is the George W. Bush of the sports world. But unlike the 43rd president, Woods needed less than three weeks to see his popularity plummet to 33 percent. And it's still falling. Bush, who left office with the worst ratings in history, took nearly eight years to become similarly loathed.

(GWB's final approval numbers? Twenty-two percent. Seriously. That's worse than Nixon and Truman, and according to CBSNews.com, "The rating is far below the final ratings of recent two-term presidents Bill Clinton and Ronald Reagan, who both ended their terms with a 68 percent approval rating." The mind reels...)

Via the USA Today:

Woods admitted to "infidelity" Friday. His "favorable" rating dropped to 33% in the latest poll conducted this week vs. 85% from his last poll in June 2005. His "unfavorable" rating, meanwhile, surged to 57% from only 8% four years ago.

Woods posted the highest popularity rating in poll history - 88% - when Gallup first measured him in 2000. The 52-point swing is the largest drop between consecutive measurements since Gallup began tracking it in 1992, says Jeffrey Jones, managing editor of the Gallup Poll. The 55-point falloff from his high to low point matches that of President George W. Bush from 2001-2008.

Most amazing: Tiger didn't send the country into war, and as far as I know, he hasn't been responsible for thousands of deaths. And while Steve Williams can kindly be characterized as surly, I'm pretty sure he didn't shoot anybody in the face.

Other findings from the poll: "Women take a harsher view of Woods. His unfavorable rating is 8 points higher among women than men: 61% vs. 53%, Also, 67% of women say they are "disappointed" by him vs. 54% of men."

And this: "19% say they'll have a "less favorable" opinion of companies that use Woods as an endorser." Which explains this.

On the upside, the Tiger coverage has saturated the news. So short of, say, learning that Woods had Jose Canseco shoot him up with steroids while he and A-Rod cuddled beneath commissioned centaur self-portraits, I don't see how things can get any worse.

Whatever happens, I think one thing is clear: Woods should run for office.