The rapidly growing news story surrounding the firing of eight U.S. Attorneys has driven up the unfavorable ratings of Attorney General Alberto Gonzales.

The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey, conducted March 14 and 15, found that 49% of Americans now have an unfavorable opinion of Gonzales. That’s up from 41% in late January and 38% in mid-December. The number with a Very Unfavorable opinion of Gonzales has jumped from 18% to 25%.

While his unfavorables are growing, the number with a positive impression of the Attorney General is stable. The latest survey finds 32% with a Favorable Opinion of him, including 11% with a Very Favorable opinion. Those figures are little changed from 31% and 9% respectively in January. (See comparable ratings for Democratic Presidential candidates, Republican Presidential candidates, Members of Congress, Other Political Leaders, and Journalists.)

At a Tuesday press conference, Gonzales said "I acknowledge that mistakes were made here. I accept that responsibility." He added that "I stand by the decision, and I think it was a right decision."

Seven U.S. attorneys were let get on December 7. An eighth had been let go earlier. The Justice Department initially said the firings were related to job performance. More recent releases from the Justice Department indicate that the process began at the White House and political loyalty was a factor.

The national telephone survey of 800 Likely Voters was conducted March 14 and 15, 2007 by Rasmussen Reports. The margin of sampling error is +/- 4 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence.

Rasmussen Reports updates the President’s Job Approval on a daily basis, Democratic Presidential nomination polling every Monday, and Republican Presidential nomination polling every Tuesday. General election match-ups are updated several times each week and other news is updated as it happens.