[Peace-discuss] New poll shows incr doubt on war and Bush

[Ricky Baldwin]

Poll Shows Increased Doubts About Iraq War, Bush
10/2/03	 

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Most Americans now believe the
Iraq war was not worth it, according to CBS News/New
York Times poll released on Thursday which showed a
sharp fall in public confidence in President Bush's
ability to handle foreign and economic policy issues. 

The poll found new lows for Bush's foreign policy
performance, which garnered just a 44 percent approval
rating. Among respondents, 50 percent lacked
confidence in his ability to handle an international
crisis and 53 percent said they now believed the Iraq
war was not worth it. 

Bush's overall job approval rating was just above 50
percent, almost back to the level before the Sept. 11,
2001, attacks and down sharply from his 89 percent
approval rating after the attacks, the poll said. 

"Landing on the carrier, declaring the conflict over,
this Romanesque sort of victory parade, certainly did
raise the stakes," historian James T. Smith told CBS
News. "And now those expectations are falling because
people are seeing that the Iraq situation is not going
according to plan." 

The poll found most Americans are critical of Bush's
ability to handle both foreign and domestic problems,
and a majority said the president does not share their
priorities. 

Just over a year before the Nov. 2004 election, a
solid majority, 56 percent, of Americans thought the
country was seriously on the wrong track, the poll
found. 

The nationwide telephone poll of 981 adults has a
margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3 percentage
points and was taken from Sunday through Wednesday. 

Fifty six percent of Americans lacked confidence in
the president's economic decision-making, compared
with four months ago when 54 percent voiced
confidence, the poll found. 

Eyeing the presidential election, voters were split 44
percent to 44 percent between Bush and an unnamed
Democratic opponent. But respondents by a 50 percent
to 35 percent margin believed Bush would be
re-elected. 

Almost two-thirds of Americans viewed Bush as a strong
leader, but the majority felt his leadership was not
focused on priorities that mattered to them. 




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