On the heels of a mediocre domestic opening for "Mission: Impossible 3," a USA Today/Gallup poll shows Tom Cruise's polls have plunged, per Reuters.

Viz,

"In the survey of 1,013 adults conducted during the film's first weekend in theaters, 35 percent registered a favorable opinion of Cruise, while 51 percent had an unfavorable opinion...That's a major turnaround from last year, when Cruise's previous film, "War of the Worlds," opened and his poll ratings were 58 percent favorable and 31 percent unfavorable."

The irony is, Bush would kill for these poll numbers. Cruise is four points ahead of the president. (Maybe because Cruise's Ethan Hunt actually found a weapon of mass destruction?)

P.S. The Reuters headline kills us: "Hollywood friends rally around Tom Cruise" Paula Wagner? His producing partner? Constitutes Hollywood friends? Man, if your employee is your only Hollywood friend outside Universal's Ron Meyer, you got some major PR problems.