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Poll: America More Critical of Bush on Economy, Iraq
Tue Jul 8, 4:37 PM ET Add Politics to My Yahoo!



WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Americans have become more critical of President Bush
(news - web sites)'s handling of the war in Iraq (news - web sites) as well
as his efforts regarding the economy and health care, according to an
opinion poll released on Tuesday.

Bush's overall job performance rating of 60 percent is down 14 points from
its post-Iraq war peak of 74 percent, according to a nationwide Pew Research
Center poll conducted from June 19 to July 2.


Sixty-seven percent of respondents continued to support the decision to go
to war in Iraq, down slightly from 74 percent in mid-April. But less than a
quarter -- 23 percent -- thought the U.S.-led war in Iraq was "going well,"
compared with 61 percent in April.


Twenty-nine U.S. soldiers have been killed by hostile fire in Iraq since
Bush declared major combat over on May 1, and guerrillas in the past week
have resorted to using heavier weapons such as mortars.


Two separate blasts in central Iraq wounded three U.S. soldiers on Tuesday.


Asked about Bush's efforts to improve the economy, 62 percent said they
thought the president "could be doing more," up from 53 percent who thought
that in May.


The U.S. jobless rate surged to a nine-year high of 6.4 percent in June,
according to government figures last week.


Seventy-two percent of those polled, including a majority of Republicans,
said the president could be doing more to deal with U.S. health care
problems.


There was little evidence the Democrats could turn that discontent to their
advantage in the upcoming presidential campaign.


"The field of Democratic candidates generates much less interest than did
the field of candidates four years ago," the survey said.


Of the nine declared Democratic candidates, none received even 25 percent
support. Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry and Connecticut Sen. Joseph
Lieberman, the party's 2000 vice presidential nominee, led the field, each
attracting 23 percent of respondents who said there was a good chance they
would vote for them.


Former Vice President Al Gore (news - web sites), who narrowly lost the 2000
presidential election, and former first lady and New York Sen. Hillary
Rodham Clinton (news - web sites), who are not candidates, attracted the
most interest -- with 42 percent and 37 percent, respectively, of voters
saying there was a good chance they would vote for them.


The telephone survey of 1,201 adults was conducted under the direction of
Princeton Survey Research Associates. The margin of error was from plus or
minus 3 to 4.5 percentage points.






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"If this were a dictatorship, it'd be a heck of a lot easier, just so
long as I'm the dictator." - GW Bush 12/18/2000.

"To announce that there must be no criticism of the president, or that
we are to stand by the president right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic
and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public."
---Theodore Roosevelt

"Feels Good!"
---George W. Bush on the Brink of Declaring War on Iraq.