The latest USA Today/CNN/Gallup Poll finds President George Bush with the lowest poll ratings of his presidency, with very little Democratic and independent support but FIRM support from his base.

The poll now puts his job approval rating at 39 percent, “the first time he has fallen below 40%, a level that until now had been his floor, ” USA Today reports.

USA Today then offers analysts’ views on WHY this is happening — a combination of factors that can be boiled down into the categories of bad news, scandals, bad weather and continued controversies:

“It’s the cumulative effect of a thousand little cuts, or big cuts, depending who is looking at it,” says Stephen Hess, a presidential scholar at the Brookings Institution, a Washington think-tank.

Hess says that, without strong public backing, Bush’s political hand is considerably weakened as he tries to push his agenda through Congress and help Republicans maintain control of the House and Senate in the 2006 elections.

Tom Edmonds, a Republican media consultant, says many Bush backers are worried that, given the extent of his problems, the president will not be able to improve his poll standings.

“This White House is starting to look like a ship at sea with no rudder,” Edmonds says.

Indeed, all that’s needed now is Scott McClellan walking into the press room one day, jumping up on a table, and shouting: “I’M KING OF THE WORLD!!!”

But, here is what’s SHOULD be most troubling for the White House:

Bush’s fall in public approval, down from 45% in late September, is largely due to a drop in support among independents and Democrats. Bush’s approval among independents declined to 32% from 37% since the last USA TODAY/CNN/Gallup Poll taken Sept. 26-28th. Approval among Democrats fell to 8% from 15% in that period.

Hess says that that loss among independents “bodes ill” for Republicans in the 2006 elections.

However, Bush’s approval among his Republican base continues to hold steady. It was 85% in the previous poll and 84% now. That steady GOP support is preventing him from falling lower. How long that GOP base holds remains a key question, Edmonds says.

So, realistically speaking, the United States could be entering into a three-year period where we have an adminstration that only has the support of its ever-loyal base. But, even among the base, some independent-thinking Republicans are beginning to have second thoughts, as the Harriet Miers nomination shows.

The prognosis? It’s hard to project a scenario for a Bush resurgence. Note the ham-handed rehearsal of Friday’s military teleconference (hubris and p.r. smarts-challenged). And today’s news about The Ed Schultz Show just so happening to be informed that they would not be debuting on Armed Forces Radio after all, the Monday after a Friday segment about the teleconference rehearsal seen around the world.

There truly doesn’t seem to be a learning curve with this group — which suggests a rocky three years ahead for them and the country. Does the phrase “Stuck On Stupid” come to mind?