Confidence in Bush Leadership at All-Time Low, Poll Finds

But the negative assessments of the president continue to stem overwhelmingly from public attitudes about Iraq. Nearly two-thirds of Americans say it was a mistake to go to war there, the highest negative response since the war began. And 55 percent of Americans now say the president has not made the country safer, the first time a majority of the country has reached that conclusion.

Another first-time majority, 52 percent, would prefer to see U.S. forces withdrawn from Iraq to avoid further casualties rather than leaving them until civil order is restored. The poll did not ask about a timetable for such a withdrawal.

Many Americans see Bush falling short of many of the goals he has outlined for his Iraq policy. Just 28 percent say it has contributed to long-term peace and stability in the region, and only 36 percent think it has encouraged the spread of democracy to other Arab countries. At this point, the public is evenly divided on the question of whether the war has made the lives of Iraqi citizens better.

The poll also highlights a major disconnect between the priorities of the American people and the White House over Iraq policy. More than three in five said that it is better to seek a solution to the Iraq conflict through diplomatic and political means, but three in four said they believe Bush is relying mostly on military means.

The midterm elections brought Democratic majorities to the House and Senate, but so far that has had only a modest effect on public approval of the Congress. The Post-ABC News poll found that 43 percent of Americans approve of the job Congress is doing, compared to 50 percent who disapprove. On the eve of the elections in November, 36 percent said they approved, 60 percent disapproved.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) draws much more favorable marks than the president. A majority (54 percent) approves of the way she is handling her new job, with 25 percent disapproving and 21 percent undecided. That rating is better than that of former House speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) when he took power after the 1994 Republican landslide. In late January 1995, his approval rating stood at 40 percent.

Democrats generally receive positive marks from the public, at least relative to the president. By better than 2 to 1 (57 percent to 25 percent), Americans prefer Democrats to set the direction for the country. And by similar margins, the public trusts Democrats in Congress over Bush to deal not only with Iraq, but also with terrorism, the economy and the federal budget.

The Democrats' advantage on Iraq narrowed to an 11-point margin right after Bush's nationally televised speech outlining his new plan, but it has moved back in their direction in the intervening period.

Together, these Democratic advantages combine in the public's assessment that the Democrats in Congress are taking the stronger leadership role in Washington these days: 56 percent say so, while 36 percent think that Bush is. But another reason for this divide may be the Democrats' early pursuit of broadly popular legislation.

Nearly nine in 10 Americans in this poll support raising the federal minimum wage to $7.25 an hour (half of supporters would like it higher still), eight in 10 think Medicare should be able to negotiate prescription prices with drug companies, and a majority (55 percent) supports a loosening of restrictions of federal funding for embryonic stem cell research. These were three of the six core components of the Democrats' legislative priorities for the first 100 hours of the new House session.

The Post-ABC News poll was conducted by telephone Jan. 16-19 among a random sample of 1,000 adults. The margin of sampling error is plus or minus 3 percentage points.