A POLL has found that 81 per cent of Americans believe the US is headed in the wrong direction – a measure of dissatisfaction that could weigh heavily against Republican John McCain in his bid to become president.
Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, locked in a bruising tug-of-war for the Democratic presidential nomination, have argued that a McCain presidency would be little more than an extension of what they describe as President George Bush's failed economic
and Iraq war policies.
The CBS News-New York Times poll, found that 81 per cent of Americans believe "things have pretty seriously gotten off on the wrong track" in the US, an increase from 69 per cent a year ago, and 35 per cent in early 2002.
The poll comes as Americans worry the country is either headed to or in a recession. The housing and credit crisis has rocked Wall Street, driven up home foreclosures and economic worries now supersede the Iraq war as the dominant issue in the presidential race.
The poll had a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points for registered voters and plus or minus 4 points for Democrats. It also showed Obama leading Clinton by 46 per cent to 43 per cent. Both Democrats have about a 5 percentage point lead over McCain.
Despite poll numbers showing dissatisfaction with President George Bush, the Democrats' hopes of ending an eight-year Republican legacy in the White House, are far from certain. The Democratic-led Congress has also received low approval ratings. Even so, the party is likely to retain and possibly strengthen its hold in Congress in November as a number of Republican incumbents have said they will not seek re-election.
In the new poll, 78 per cent of respondents said the US was worse off than five years ago; just 4 per cent said it was doing better.
The full article contains 325 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
