54% in poll fear U.S. on wrong course

George Bush and John Kerry enter the general election at a time of growing concern among Americans that the nation is veering in the wrong direction, the latest New York Times/CBS News poll shows. Bush faces unrest over his management of the economy, while the public has doubts about Kerry's political convictions.

Americans do view Bush and Kerry as strong leaders who share their moral values and have a clear vision of where they want to take the country, the poll found.

But while the two candidates are starting on roughly equal ground on those critical generic measures of leadership, the poll found that nearly half of respondents have not yet formed an opinion about Kerry. That result suggests the opening that Bush has to mold public opinion of his still largely unknown challenger.

Already, most voters think Kerry is a politician who says what people want to hear, the poll found, rather than what he believes — the line of attack that Bush has used against him in speeches.

At the same time, there is sweeping concern among Americans about the president's economic policies, including his ability to create jobs and the effectiveness of his tax cuts, according to the poll. By a margin of greater than 30 points, more people said the policies of Bush's administration had reduced the number of jobs in the country rather than increased them. Those findings could prove particularly significant if the election is fought over economic issues in hard-hit states like Ohio.

Perhaps most significant for Bush, the number of Americans who think the nation is heading in the wrong direction is now 54 percent, as high as it has been in his presidency. The right direction/wrong direction figure is a measure that pollsters view as a highly reliable early indicator of problems for an incumbent.

"Our priorities need to be reshuffled," Darrell Griffin, 64, a Republican retired engineer from Hemphill, Texas, said in a follow-up interview. "The protection of the homeland and our allies from terrorism is important, but our economy in our own country and Social Security and things like that here at home are pretty important, too."

The Times/CBS News poll offered the latest evidence that the race for president was as tight as has long been predicted. Even after two weeks in which Bush has run televised advertisements promoting himself and attacking Kerry, the two men are effectively tied, with 46 percent of voters saying they supported Bush and 43 percent backing Kerry.