The Hindu : International : 'U.S. invaded Iraq too soon'

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Wednesday, Oct 06, 2004

International

International

'U.S. invaded Iraq too soon'

By Richard W. Stevenson and Janet Elder— New York Times News Service

NEW YORK, OCT. 5. The U.S. democratic presidential candidate, Senator John Kerry, came out of his first debate with the U.S. President, George W. Bush, having reassured many Americans of his ability to handle an international crisis or a terrorist attack and with a generally more favourable image, but he failed to shake the perception that he panders to voters in search of support, according to the latest New York Times/CBS News Poll.

The poll also found significant doubts about Mr. Bush's policies towards Iraq, with a majority of the public saying that the U.S. invaded too soon and that the administration did a poor job thinking through the consequences of the war. But Mr. Bush maintained an advantage on personal characteristics like strong leadership and likeability, as well as in the enthusiasm of his supporters.

A dead heat

Four weeks from election day, the presidential race is again a dead heat, with Mr. Bush having given up the gains he enjoyed for the last month following the Republican National Convention in New York City, the poll found. In both a head-to-head match up and a three-way race including Ralph Nader, the Republican and Democratic tickets each won the support of 47 per cent of registered voters surveyed in the poll. Last month, Mr. Bush led Mr. Kerry by 50 per cent to 42 per cent in a two-way race and

50-41 in a three-way race.

The results, which parallel those of several other national polls in the past few days, are likely to intensify interest in Tuesday night's debate in Cleveland between the vice-presidential candidates, Senator John Edwards of North Carolina and the Vice-President, Dick Cheney, as well as the two additional presidential debates over the next eight days.

Aides to both campaigns said the running mates' debate was unlikely to have a major impact on the vote in November. That did not stop them, though, from trying once again to set high expectations for the other side, as each campaign pointed to the debating strengths of their opponents.

Some of the drop in Mr. Bush's numbers appeared to reflect the traditional cycle in which a candidate's standing surges after his nominating convention and then declines somewhat.

Kerry's comeback

But Mr. Kerry also scored notable gains in several areas that could be vital in a campaign being fought largely around the war in Iraq and the threat from terrorism. Forty-one per cent of registered voters said they had confidence in his ability to deal wisely with an international crisis, up from 32 per cent before the debate.

Thirty-nine per cent said they had a lot of confidence that he would make the right decisions when it came to protecting the U.S. against a terrorist attack, up 13 percentage points from before the debate last Thursday. But on both scores, Mr. Kerry still trailed Mr. Bush. The poll found that 65 per cent of voters do not think Mr. Bush has a clear plan for getting American troops out of Iraq, and that 59 per cent of voters do not think Mr. Kerry has one. Half of voters said they think Mr. Bush makes the situation in Iraq sound better than it is, and 43 per cent said Mr. Kerry makes it sound worse.

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