¡¡WASHINGTON, March 29 (Xinhuanet) -- US President George W. Bush has been largely unaffected by his former counterterrorism aide's criticism on his handling of the terrorist threats, according to apoll released on Monday.

    American voters still consider Bush stronger than Senator Kerry,his Democratic rival John Kerry, on issues of anti-terrorism and homeland security, despite accusations last week made by Richard Clarke, the former White House counterterrorism aide, that Bush did little to counter the al Qaeda threat before the Sept. 11 attacks.

    The Pew Research Center poll showed 53 percent of Americans think Bush is capable of preventing the country from future attacks, while only 29 percent believe Kerry can do the same.

    A poll in mid-March found 57 percent of the respondents believed in Bush against 32 percent in Kerry.

    The poll also showed Kerry leading Bush 47 percent to 46 percent ahead of the presidential elections in November, compared with 52 percent for Kerry and 43 percent for Bush in a poll in mid-March.

    Nearly half, or 49 percent, Americans have confidence in Bush to take the right decisions in Iraq, with 37 percent favoring Kerry.

    Kerry has lost ground on domestic issues. On employment, Kerry's advantage over Bush went down from a gap of some 20 percentage points in the mid-March Pew poll to eight percentage points, 45-37,and on the issue of health care, Kerry's advantage over Bush declined from 28 percentage points to 13 percentage points.

    The Pew Research Center poll interviewed 1,501 US adults, including 1,168 registered voters, between March 22 and March 28, and has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus three percentage points.

    Meanwhile, a Newsweek magazine poll released last Saturday found the approval rating for Bush's handling of terrorism had dropped from 65 percent to 57 percent in the week after Clarke launched criticism on Bush's handling of terrorism before the Sept.11 attacks. Enditem