ĦĦĦĦĦĦWASHINGTON, Jan. 22 (Xinhuanet) -- The US public is increasingly skeptical
about military action against Iraq, with seven in 10 people would give UN
weapons inspectors months more to pursue their arms search, a new Washington
Post-ABC News poll released Wednesday showed.
ĦĦĦĦIn addition to the growing doubt about a possible US war against Iraq, the
poll found that a majority of Americans disapproved of President Geoge W. Bush's
handling of the economy for the first time in his presidency.
ĦĦĦĦOverall, support for Bush has dropped to levels not seen since before the
Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, with 59 percent of Americans approving of his
work. Thought it is still a comfortablelevel of popularity, Bush's overall
standing, buoyed by the 71 percent who approve of his work against terrorism,
masks deepeningconcerns about his economic and foreign policies.
ĦĦĦĦOn the economy, 53 percent of Americans disapproved of the job Bush has
done. Only a quarter of Americans described the economy as excellent or good,
down 10 points from December.
ĦĦĦĦSupport for Bush's remedy for the economy, a 670-billion-dollartax cut
unveiled earlier this month, has drawn lukewarm support. Most Americans -- 61
percent -- perceive that it benefits the wealthy, compared with 9 percent who
think it helps the middle class or the poor and 23 percent who said it treats
all equally.
ĦĦĦĦBy a margin of 7 percentage points, Americans opposed the cornerstone of
Bush's proposal, the elimination of the tax on stock dividends. By more than 2
to 1, respondents said they would rather have more spending on education, health
care and Social Security than a tax cut, and a sizable majority said they would
rather the money be used to balance the federal budget.
ĦĦĦĦOn Iraq, 57 percent of Americans back military action, down from 62 percent
in mid-December; similarly, 50 percent of Americans said they approved of Bush's
handling of the Iraqi situation, down from 58 percent a month ago.
ĦĦĦĦSuch levels of support are far below the near-unanimous supportfor an
attack against Afghanistan; support for that operation exceeded 90 percent in
the weeks before military action began.
ĦĦĦĦThe survey found Americans evenly split on whether Bush has presented
enough evidence against Iraq. Fifty-eight percent said they would like to see
more evidence, and 71 percent said the United States should make public its own
evidence if the UN inspectors can't find hard evidence of Iraqi weapons of mass
destruction.
ĦĦĦĦIn one clear sign of public caution on Iraq, 43 percent of respondents said
the UN inspectors should have as much time as they like to scour Iraq. A quarter
said the inspectors should have"a few months" or more. Another quarter supported
a deadline of a few weeks or less for the inspections.
ĦĦĦĦThe result was released one day after Bush voiced frustration at calls from
France and other nations to allow more time for diplomacy and UN weapons
inspections.
ĦĦĦĦThe poll showed that the doubts about Bush's Iraq policy are broad and
deep, The Washington Post said Wednesday. In barely a month, Bush's performance
rating on Iraq has dropped 16 percentagepoints, to 42 percent, among young
people 18 to 30 years old. Overall opposition to the war also increased among
virtually everydemographic group.
ĦĦĦĦThe Post-ABC poll is based on telephone interviews with 1,133 randomly
selected adults conducted from Jan. 16 to Jan. 20. Marginof sampling error for
the overall results is plus or minus 3 percentage points. Enditem
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