US: Democrats have regained a commanding position going into the final weeks of the midterm-election campaigns, with support eroding for Republicans on Iraq, ethics and presidential leadership, according to a Washington Post-ABC News poll published yesterday.
Apparent Republican gains in September have been reversed in the face of mounting US casualties and gloomy forecasts from Iraq and the scandal involving Mark Foley, who was forced to resign his congressional post over sexually graphic online conversations with former House pages.
Approval of Congress has plunged to its lowest level in more than a decade (32 per cent), and Americans, by a margin of 54 to 35 per cent, say they trust Democrats more than Republicans to deal with the biggest problems the nation is confronting. Fifty-five per cent of those surveyed said congressional Democrats deserve to be re-elected next month, but just 39 per cent said Republicans deserve to return to office.
The poll measures broad public attitudes and cannot be translated into individual House districts, but it sketches an environment that is the most difficult the Republicans have faced since taking control of Congress in the 1994 elections. By a margin of 54 to 41 per cent, registered voters said they plan to vote for the Democrat over the Republican in congressional elections next month.
Since Congress adjourned 10 days ago, Republicans have been swamped by bad news, particularly from Iraq. The Foley scandal, while not a dominant voting issue for many, nonetheless has contributed to dissatisfaction with the majority party's performance, the survey found.
President Bush's approval rating, which rose to 42 per cent in September after an anti-terrorism offensive marking the fifth anniversary of the September 11th attacks, registered 39 per cent in the latest poll. The percentage of respondents who said they strongly disapprove of his performance is about double the number who strongly approve. This disparity in voter intensity could have implications for turnout on November 7th, since impassioned voters are most likely to go to the polls.
The president's approval rating reached a low of 33 per cent in May, but he has since regained support from Republicans who had expressed unhappiness with his performance. In the current poll, 82 percent of Republicans said they approve of how he is handling his job, compared with 68 percent in May.
Democrats and independents are almost as negative in their appraisals of the president now as they were five months ago.
Mr Bush's ratings on the war in Iraq are among the lowest of his presidency, with 35 per cent approving of how he is handling the situation and 64 per cent disapproving (54 per cent strongly disapprove). On terrorism, a majority (53 per cent) said they disapprove of his performance. That is the lowest rating Mr Bush has received on his signature issue. Asked whether the war in Iraq has been worth fighting, 63 per cent said no, the highest recorded during Mr Bush's presidency.