Pelosi's poll numbers drop

The Boston Globe has this:

The CNN/Opinion Research Corp. survey released this afternoon found that the approval of how Pelosi is doing her job as speaker has dropped from 51 percent in January to 46 percent in March to 39 percent now.

In the new survey, conducted Thursday through Sunday while Pelosi was embroiled in controversy over how much she was told about waterboarding of terrorist suspects, 48 percent of respondents said they disapproved of her performance.

In a news conference on Thursday, she said she had been misled by the CIA -- an accusation that prompted officials of both parties to defend the spy agency and that provoked some angry Republicans to say she should put up proof or shut up and apologize.

Gingrich, the former GOP house speaker during the mid-1990s, has called on Pelosi to resign as speaker. He had his approval rating drop into the low 30 percent and as low as 25 percent in March 1997. . . . .

UPDATE: Dems think CIA lied to Pelosi

A majority of Democratic voters believe House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's claim that the CIA lied to her about interrogation techniques used on detainees in 2002, according to a new poll released Monday.

The Rasmussen Reports survey reports that 62 percent of Democrats believe Pelosi's account. In contrast, the same number -- 62 percent -- of Republicans believe the California Democrat is not telling the full truth.

Among all voters, 43 percent believe Pelosi while 41 percent do not.

Pelosi said Thursday that the CIA "misled" her about its use of waterboarding. Asked by a reporter if she was saying that the CIA had lied to Congress, a violation of the law, Pelosi nodded her head in agreement.

In response, CIA Director Leon Panetta said Friday, "Let me be clear: It is not our policy or practice to mislead Congress."

"That is against our laws and our values," he said.

Pelosi has since tried to walk back her original statement by redirecting her fire from the CIA to the Bush administration. . . . .