Voters rate only President Bush's performance in the war on terrorism positively, 59% - 40%. Opinion is split on foreign policy, 49% positive compared to 50% negative. His performance on health care is rated 36% positive, 61% negative; the environment, 31% positive, 65% negative; taxes, 45% positive, 54% negative; and jobs and the economy, 33% positive, 66% negative.

For the first time, more likely voters (47%) say it's time for someone new in the White House, compared to 46% who said the President deserves to be re-elected.

While nearly six in ten (57%) respondents say they have a favorable opinion of the President as a person, 42% now say their opinion is unfavorable.

A plurality (48%) of likely voters say they would choose President Bush over a Democratic candidate (43%) if the election were held today, compared to June polling by Zogby International where 44% would choose Bush and 37% would favor any Democrat.

A majority (50%) of respondents say the United States is headed in the right direction, while 44% say it's the wrong direction.

Support for the War

Will WMDs be found in Iraq?

Voters are nearly equally split on whether or not the US will find weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, with 47% saying they will not be found, and 45% believing they will. Two in three (67%) say it makes no difference if they are ever found, while 23% say they would be less supportive of the administration, and 9% say they would be more supportive if they aren't found.

When asked if they would be more or less likely to vote for President Bush in the next presidential election if weapons of mass destruction are never found, an overwhelming majority (75%) of respondents said it would make no difference. One in five (20%) said they would be less likely to vote for him, and 5% said they would be more likely to support him.

Sentiment is split on the subject of public Congressional hearings about the reasons used to justify a war in Iraq. Just over half (52%) said public hearings should not be held, while 45% favor them. More people fault the CIA and other US intelligence (36%) than the White House (31%) as responsible for the confusion about the number and types of weapons of mass destruction that Iraq supposedly possessed.

Pollster John Zogby: "What has been propping up the President in the past few months is his personal favorability rating. To me, what is most ominous is this alone has slipped 9 points in the past month. If he cannot count on a large majority of Americans to like him personally, this could spell doom for his re-election hopes because he has little support for his overall performance and how he is rated on the issues."

The Zogby America poll of 1,000 likely voters was conducted from Zogby International headquarters in Utica on July 16-17, 2003. The poll has a margin of error of +/- 3.2%.

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