Zeev's Turnips Talk Politics (ZTTP)

[BOREALIS]

Only 29 pc approve Bush's handling of Iraq: new United States poll


Washington, Nov 2

The war in Iraq continues to dominate voters' mind less than a week before the US Congressional elections, with a paltry 29 per cent of Americans approving the way President George W Bush is managing the Iraqi conflict, according to a new poll.

With the White House desperately trying to gain back momentum by hammering away at a botched joke by Democratic Senator John Kerry who tried to make a bizzare link between education and troops in Iraq, the latest poll by New York Times/CBS shows that a majority of the Americans are expecting Democrats to reduce or end the military involvement in Iraq.

The Kerry gaffe, in which he joked that Americans who neglect their studies would "get stuck in Iraq", is not expected to have any major impact on voters at the November 7 elections with most polls showing Democrats would gain control of the House of Representatives and even perhaps get a shot at the Senate.

According to the poll, nearly 70 per cent felt Bush did not have any plan to end the war, and 80 per cent opined that his latest efforts to rally public support for the conflict amounted to a change in language but not policy.

The survey also showed that aside from local issues that traditionally play a major factor in Congressional elections, national issues like the war on Iraq is now dominating the political season.

Only 20 per cent of respondents thought the United States was winning in Iraq, down from this year's high of 36 per cent in January.

--- PTI