Fallout over President Bush’s declining popularity nationwide hasn’t completely covered South Carolina.

Still, Palmetto State Republicans worry Bush’s swoon could dampen enthusiasm for the GOP and, in turn, results at the polls.

“We could see a sharp falloff in voting,” said Ben Cole, a 64-year-old retiree and veteran party activist who lives in Summerville.

State GOP chairman Katon Dawson acknowledged the lack of enthusiasm. He called it the “six-year itch,” when the party in power normally loses seats. Others characterized it as the “second-term blues.”

Whatever, it has party officials nervous.

Sandra Wren of North Myrtle Beach is one of them.

“I’m scared it might happen,” she said of a possible low turnout among Republican voters. “It could hurt us at the polls. Republicans need to stand up and be counted.”

President Bush still enjoys strong Republican support in South Carolina.

Recent regional polls, for example, found 86 percent of Republicans approve of the way that Bush is doing his job.

Yet Republican enthusiasm has waned.

Mary Riley, a 70-year-old retired elementary school teacher from Inman, warns Republicans could lose some important races if they stay home on Election Day.

“We could have a very serious problem. We’ve been targeted by the Democrats. We’ve been in power for a long time. Voters are getting upset with us. Our people are apathetic,” she said.

Conservative Republicans, like Charlie Rogers of Greenwood, are especially restless.

“I’m unhappy the president hasn’t vetoed anything,” he said. “He has let spending get away.”

Bush’s big spending and record deficits — the largest expansion of government since the Great Society — could prompt fiscal conservatives to stay home in November.

Other Republicans are bent out of shape over Bush’s immigration reform plan that could grant amnesty to millions of illegal immigrants now in the country.

“We’ve got to work and get voters out to the polls, more than ever,” urged Lily Linderman, a local party official from Spartanburg.

She likened those Republicans who stay home on Election Day to cowards who “just throw up their hands” and surrender.

However, Terry Sullivan, a Columbia-based Republican consultant, said it is too early to be worried about turnout.

“I think that anybody who is worried about the November election either has too much free time or does this for a living. Voters aren’t tuned in. They’ve got a summer vacation and half a fall before they start tuning in. Right now, this is just inside baseball.”

Republicans take comfort from Democrats who are still struggling to find a message of their own for 2006.Democrats seem fixated on bashing Bush instead of articulating what their party stands for.

Meanwhile, polls show Republicans still have the edge on the crucial question of which party is more trusted to defend the country against terrorists.

Despite Bush’s slumping poll numbers nationally, South Carolina Republicans show no signs of abandoning Bush.

Even in a season of discontent, the president retains tremendous political pull here, a state he carried with nearly 60 percent of the vote.

“We’ll be proud to have him back any time to help our candidates,” Dawson said, hinting that may happen.