WASHINGTON — One year out from the 2008 election, Americans are deeply pessimistic and eager for a change in direction from the agenda and priorities of President Bush, according to a new Washington PostABC News poll.
Concern about the economy, the war in Iraq and growing dissatisfaction with the political environment in Washington contribute to the lowest public assessment of the direction of the country in more than a decade. Just 24 percent think the nation is on the right track, and three-quarters said they want the next president to chart a course that is different from that pursued by Bush.
Overwhelmingly, Democrats want a new direction, but so do three-quarters of independents and half of Republicans. Sixty percent of all Americans said they feel strongly that such a change is needed after two terms of the Bush presidency.
Dissatisfaction with the war in Iraq remains a primary drag on public opinion, and Americans are increasingly downcast about the economy. More than six in 10 called the war not worth fighting, and nearly two-thirds gave the national economy negative marks. The outlook going forward is also bleak: About seven in 10 see a recession as likely within the next year.
The overall landscape tilts in the direction of the Democrats, but there is evidence in the new poll that the battle for the White House is shaping up to be another hard-fought, highly negative and closely decided contest.
At this point, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, the Democratic front-runner, holds the edge in hypothetical match-ups with four top contenders for the Republican nomination. But against the two best-known GOP candidates, former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani and Sen. John McCain, her margins are far from comfortable.
Not one of the leading candidates in either party has a favorable rating above 51 percent in the new poll.
And while Clinton finds herself atop all candidates in terms of strong favorability – in the poll, 28 percent feel strongly favorable toward her – she also outpaces any other candidate on strong unfavorables. Thirty- five percent have strongly negative views of her, more than 10 points higher than any other contender.
In follow-up interviews, people were quick to find fault with what they see in Washington and to express their desire for something different.
“I think Bush has been extremely polarizing to the country,” said Amber Welsh of Davis, Calif. “While I think it started before Bush, I think Bush has pushed it even further. I think the next president needs to be one who brings us together as a country.”
Only 23 percent of those surveyed said they want to keep going “in the direction Bush has been taking us,” and the appetite for change is as high as it was in the summer of 1992, in the lead-up to Bill Clinton’s defeat of President George H.W. Bush.
The Post-ABC poll was taken Monday through Thursday among a random sample of 1,131 adults. It has a margin of error of 3 percentage points.
