Bush is steering US in the wrong direction, say majority of Americans

THE majority of Americans are unhappy with the direction their country is taking and with the main policies of President George Bush, according to a new poll.

Despite the dissatisfaction, the race between Mr Bush and election challenger John Kerry remains a dead heat, the Los Angeles Times Poll found. Mr Kerry, a senator from Massachusetts, is leading Mr Bush by two percentage points - a slight reduction on the LA Times’ last poll and a statistical dead heat between the two men.

Mr Bush appears to have weathered a number of recent storms which could have proved more damaging to his presidency - namely questions about the wisdom of war in Iraq and the intelligence upon which the invasion was based. However, the poll found 54% of the registered voters surveyed said America was moving in the wrong direction.