KMAX: News of the West

Poll: Americans skeptical about Bush economic program

LOS ANGELES (AP) Most Americans believe President Bush is doing a good job, especially in fighting terrorism, but they are sharply divided over his economic policies and the fallout from tax cuts, according to a newspaper poll.

Sixty-three percent of those polled approved of Bush's performance as president and 73 percent liked his handling of the threat of terrorism.

But only a bare majority, 51 percent, said they approved of the president's economic management and 43 percent disapproved, according to a Los Angeles Times Poll released Wednesday.

Many Americans had money worries. Fifty-five percent said they believe the economy is doing badly, up from 45 percent in a Times poll taken in August. The share of Americans who felt the economy is performing ``very badly'' jumped from one in eight to nearly one in five.

Four in 10 of those polled said they will spend less than usual this Christmas.

Twenty-two percent felt that the president and his policies were to blame for the economic problems, while 21 percent blamed corporate fraud and greed and 13 percent cited the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

The figures, however, varied widely along partisan lines. One-in-three Democrats and one-in-five independents blamed Bush for economic problems, compared to one-in-50 Republicans.

Forty percent of the respondents said the $1.35-trillion tax cut that Bush pushed through Congress last year helped the economy while 26 percent said it has hurt.

Further reductions in income tax rates are scheduled for 2004 and 2006. Nearly half of those polled said speeding up those reductions would help the economy. Only 19 percent believed it would hurt.

The response changed drastically when people were asked if further tax cuts scheduled for 2004 and 2006 should go through if it meant tapping Social Security funds to pay for other programs.

Seventy-seven percent, including nearly two-thirds of Republicans, said no.

The nationwide poll of 1,305 adults was made from Dec. 12 through Dec. 15 and had a margin of error of plus of minus 3 percentage points.

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