Support for President George W. Bushâs Iraq policy spiked over the last month as the United States prepared to hand power over to Iraqis, according to a new poll. Bush also got a boost from the publicâs recent focus on the funeral of Ronald Reagan, according to the poll by the Pew Research Center released on Thursday. What is not clear, however, is the potential effect on the polls of the Sept. 11 commissionâs Wednesday statement that it has found no credible evidence Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein and Al Qaeda had a collaborative relationship. The commissionâs findings raised fresh questions about the Bush administrationâs decision to invade Iraq.
Bush had a slight lead over Democratic presidential contender John Kerry in a three-way matchup, with the president at 46 percent, Kerry at 42 percent and independent Ralph Nader at 6 percent. Bush and Kerry were tied in a two-way race as the November election approaches. Andrew Kohut, director of the Pew Research Center, said the poll found evidence that Bush got a benefit from the attention paid to the Reagan funeral last week and the moves toward a handover of power in Iraq. Interviews for the poll started before Reaganâs death on June 5 and continued during the coverage of the extended period of memorials and funerals. âBush got a little lift last week from the Reagan commemoration,â Kohut said. âHis (approval) ratings were 44 percent in interviewing done before ... and went up to 50 percent after Reaganâs death.â
Bushâs job approval rating in the poll was 48 percent, up slightly from 44 percent in May, according to the poll by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press. The poll of 1,806 adults was taken from June 3-13 and has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 2.5 percentage points, slightly higher for the sample of registered voters. Almost six in 10, 57 percent, said the situation in Iraq is going well, up from 46 percent a month earlier. Almost that many, 55 percent, said military action in Iraq was the right decision, up slightly from 51 percent a month earlier. Optimism that US troops will come home in the next two years was up, with 50 percent now saying that compared to 35 percent in April. While the violence in Iraq has continued, much of the recent news coverage in the United States has focused on the gradual handover of power to Iraqis. |